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GENERAL 
LIBRARY 


EAELY   CHRISTIANITY   AND 
PAGANISM 


S.     CECILIA     AND     VALERIAN      HER     HUSBAND. 


Martyrs -circa   A  D.    177-180.        From   «,.   ancient   Mosaic,   traditionally   restored   by   Pope   Paschal  I.. 

A.D.   822. 


Early  Christianity 


AND 


Paganism 


A.D.    f54    TO    THE    PEACE    OF    THE    CHURCH    IN    THE    FOURTH 

CENTURY 


A    NARRATION   MAINLY   BASED    UPON    CONTEMPORARY 
RECORDS    AND    REMAINS 


H.    DONALD    M.    SPENCE,    D.D. 

DEA\      OF     GLOUCESTER 


New  York  :   E.   P.   BUTTON   &   CO. 
London:   CASSELL  &   COMPANY,   Limited 


13U 


■^ 


?=fFT  OF 
3ftMES  G.  PHELPS  STOKEg 


To  the  Dear  Meviory  of  Victoria,  R.I.,  is  dedi- 
cated this  chronicle  describing  the  building  up  of 
the  strong  foundation  storeys  of  the  faith,  of  ivJdch 
for  sixty -four  eventful  years  the  great  English 
Queen  ivas  the  illustrious  and  pious  Defender, 


His  Majesty  the  King  of  England  has  graciously  approved  this 
Dedication,  ivhich  the  late  Queen  of  glorions  memory  accepted  only  a  few 
days  before  she  fell  asleep. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Manifestation  of  the  Supernatural  in  the  history  of  the  early  Church — Division 
of  Church  history  into  two  sections  by  the  Edict  of  Constantino — Sources 
of  Christian  strength — Materials  for  constructing  the  narrative — "Writ- 
ings of  Disciples  or  Apostles — Of  their  immediate  successors — Eusebius 
— Early  heretics — Silence  of  Eoman  literati — Reports  of  trials — "Acts" 

V  or  "  Passions  "  of  Martyrs — Unity  of  Chi'istian  Faith — Identity  of  Chris- 
tian Practice — The  foundation  of  that  Unity — The  Canon  of  the  New 
Testament 


CHAPTER    I. 

FIRST  STAGES. 

Section-  I. — The  Beginnikgs  of  Chkistianity  :  Records  from  a.d.  62— First 
section  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles :  Christianity  in  the  first  place  ex- 
clusively Hebrew — Extension  to  Samaritans  and  Gentiles — Second  section 
of  the  Acts :  character  of  the  "  Travel  Document" — Authenticity  of  the 
work.  Section  II. — The  Jew  ix  Rome  :  Position  of  the  Jews  in  the 
Capital  under  the  fust  Caesars — The  Peculiar  People— The  Ghetto — 
Christians  before  Nero— The  "Household"  of  Caesar— Pomponia  Grsecina 
— The  Christians  looked  upon  as  a  Jewish  sect  ...  ...  ...       20 

CHAPTER    II. 

NEBO. 

Section  I. — The  Persecution  of  Nero  :  Character  of  Nero's  reign — The 
great  fire — Nero  charges  the  Christians  with  causing  the  fire — Obedience 
to  Government  a  part  of  the  Christian  teaching — Possible  sources  of  the 
accusation — Attitude  of  the  historian  Tacitus — New  form  of  the  indict- 
ment— The  exhibition  in  the  A'atican  Gardens.  Section  II.— Effects 
OF  the  Persecution  of  Nero  :  Change  in  the  position  of  Christians — 
Christianity  becomes  a  ci-ime  per  se — Odium  huinani  generis — Christian 
readiness  to  die — Attitude  of  the  Roman  literati — The  persecution  con- 
tinued—First  Epistle  of  S.  Peter— The  Apocalypse     ...  ...  ...       40 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    Iir. 
THE   CHURCH    IN   EOME   AFTER   NERO. 

PACK 

Attitude  to  Christianity  of  Vespasian  and  Titus— Persecution  inactive — Ee- 
newed  persecution  under  Domitian — Roman  episcopate  of  Clement — 
Irenfeus  on  Clement — Clement's  letter  to  the  Corinthians — Clement's 
personality — His  tone  towards  Government — His  doctrinal  teaching — 
MSS.  of  Clement's  letter  and  prayer — Existence  of  Fonns  of  Prayer — 
Cemetery  of  Domitilla — Basilica  of  Clement ...  ...  ...  ...       60 

CHAPTER    IV. 

S.    JOHN   AND    POLYCARP. 

Section  I. — S.  John  :  S.  John  the  third  of  the  great  Apostolic  trio — Resi- 
dence at  Patmos — Return  to  Ephesus — References  in  the  Muratorian 
fragment — References  by  Irenseus.  Section  II. — S.  Polycarp  :  A 
disciple  of  John — Letter  of  Ignatius  to  Polycai-p — Letter  of  Irenaeus  to 
Eloriuus — Widespread  influence  of  Polycarp — Polycarp  at  Rome  :  the 
Easter  Day  conti'oversy — His  condemnation  of  heresies — Writings  of 
Polycarp — Story  of  his  martyrdom — Aulhenticity  of  the  account  ...       76 

CHAPTER    V. 

IGNATIUS    OF    ANTIOCH. 

What  we  know  of  Ignatius,  chiefly  in  the  seven  letters — Life  and  date  of  his 
death — "Theophorus" — The  Antiochene  "Acts" — Arrest  of  Ignatius, 
and  jomney  to  Rome — Stay  at  Smyrna — At  Troas — At  Philippi — 
Account  of  his  martyrdom  in  the  iVntiochene  "Acts" — His  seven 
letters — Condemnation  of  Docetism — Insistence  on  the  threefold  ministry 
in  the  Church — Letter  to  the  Romans — Desire  for  martyrdom — Effects  of 
this  letter  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...       94 

CHAPTER    VI. 

TRAJAN    AND    HADRIAN. 

Section  I. — Pliny  and  Trajan:  General  lack  of  authentic  records — Pliny 
the  Younger — His  account  of  penalties  imposed  upon  Christians — His 
examination  and  rejection  of  grave  charges  against  them — Benefits  re- 
sulting from  their  repression — Reply  of  Trajan — Repression,  not  perse- 
cution, his  policy — Evidence  of  the  letters  as  to  the  progress  of 
Christianity.  Section  II. — Hadrian  :  First  Period  :  Letter  of  Sil- 
vanus  Granianus — Rescript  of  Hadrian — Discouragement  of  informers — 
Character  of  the  Emperor — Change  in  his  later  years.  Section  III. — 
Hadrian  :  The  Tragedy  of  the  Jews  :  The  last  Jewish  war — Exter- 
miaation  of  Judaising  Christianity — The  Jews  not  persecuted  afterwards 
— The  alarm  inspired  by  Christianity.  Section  IV. — Christi.^-  Life 
TNDER  Hadrian  as  Presented  by  early  Christian  Apologists  : 
Quadratus— Aristides — Account  of  the  Christians  given  by  Aristides — 
Features  in  his  "Apology  " — The  '*  Letter  to  Diognetus."  Section  V.— 
The  Persecution  in  the  last  years  of  Hadrian  :  Change  in  Hadrian's 
character — Martyrdom  of  S.  Symphorosa — Comments  on  the  record       ...     10" 


CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    REVIVAL    OF    PAGANISM. 

PAGE 

Section  I. — The  Roman  Religion  :  Paganism  an  effective  rival  to  Chris- 
tianity— Its  reality  as  a  religion — Change  between  the  times  of  Cicero 
and  of  Marcus  Aurelius — From  Scepticism  to  Devotion — Character  of  the 
primitive  form — Corrupting  influence  of  Greece — Resulting  scepticism. 
Section  II. — The  Augt:st.vn  Awakening  :  Importance  attached  to  Re- 
lioion  by  Augustus — His  restoration  of  temples  and  ritual — Horace  and 
Ovid — The  Ethics  of  the  "  Georgics  " — Religious  aspects  of  the  "^neid  " 
— Influence  of  Virgil — General  summary  of  Augustus'  influence — The 
successors  of  Augustus.  Section  III. — The  Deification  of  the  Em- 
perors :  Divine  honours  paid  to  national  heroes — The  family  Lares — 
Julius  Csesar  deified — Augustus  deified — Association  of  the  Imperial 
Deity  with  Roman  Deity  or  Genius — Genuine  acceptance  of  the  deifica- 
tion— Not  merely  an  equivalent  of  canonisation.  Section  IV. — Sacer- 
dotal Corporations  :  Revival  of  ancient  sacerdotal  corporations — The 
Arval  Brothers.  Section  V. — Admission  of  Foreign  Deities  among  the 
Old  Gods  of  Rome  :  Early  examples — Oriental  examples — Christianity 
alone  excluded  as  itseK  intolerant.  Section  VI. — The  Philosophers 
and  the  Pagan  Revival  :  Doctriue  of  the  Unity  of  God — Claim  of  the 
philosophers  to  our  respect — Seneca — Difference  from  Christian  Ethics — 
Epictetus — The  Stoics  not  directly  influenced  by  Christianity — Stoicism 
not  directed  to  the  poor  and  lowly — Contrast  with  Christianity  ...     137 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE   CHRISTIANS   UNDER   THE   ANTONINES,   A.D.    138   TO   A.D.   180. 

Position  of  Christians  growing  worse — The  feeling  of  the  Antonines  towards 
Christianity — The ' '  Apology  "  of  Justin — Activity  of  Christian  propaganda 
— The  second  "  Apology  "  of  Justin — Increased  severity  under  Marcus 
Aurelius — Letters  and  "  Meditations  "  of  Marcus  Aurelius — Worship  of 
the  Pagan  Deities — Development  of  anti-Christian  policy         ...  ...     176 

CHAPTER    IX. 

A    CHAPTER    OF    MARTYRDOMS. 

Section  I. — Introductory.  Section  II. — An  Example  of  a  State  Trial 
OF  Accused  Christians  in  Rome  :  The  "  Acts  of  S.  Felicitas  " — Inter- 
rogation before  the  court — Execution — Discoveries  as  to  burial  of  these 
martyrs.  Section  III. — The  Prison  Life  before  a  Martyrdom;  The 
Passion  of  S.  Perpetua — Dreams  of  Perpetua  and  Saturus — The  eve  of 
martjTdom — In  the  arena — Authorship  of  the  "  Passion."  Section  IV. 
— Martyrs  of  Lyons  and  Vienne  {circa  a.d.  177):  The  Gallic  Church 
— Gaul  and  Asia  Minor— Arrest  of  Christians  at  Lyons — The  martyrdom. 
Section  V. — Rome  in  the  Latter  Years  of  Marcus  :  The  "  Acts  of 
S.Cecilia" — Story  of  her  martyrdom — Her  burial-place  ...  ...     190 


xii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER    X. 

AFTER    THE    ANTONINES. 

Section  I.  — Christianity  at  the  Close  of  the  Second  Century  :  The 
reign  of  Commodua — The  persecution  at  Madaura — The  Scillitan  martyrs 
— Leaders  of  the  Church  in  Asia  Minor — Association  of  Asian  and  Gallic 
Churches — Irenseus — The  Canon  of  Scripture — Writings  of  Irenseus — 
Multiplication  of  Christians — TertuUian's  observations.  Section  II. — 
Severus  and  Caracalla  :  Pertinax  succeeds  Commodus — Severus  ac- 
quires the  Imperial  power — Character  of  Severus — Lenity  of  his  opening 
years — Later  harshness — In  part  due  to  the  aggressive  defiance  of 
Christian  extremists — TertuUian  :  De  Corona  Militis — Resulting  proscrip- 
tion of  Christianity— Especially  about  Alexandria — Signs  of  the  persecu- 
tion in  the  Roman  Catacombs — The  persecution  in  North  Africa — 
Closing  years  of  Severus — Caracalla — The  Porphyrogeniti — The  extension 
of  Roman  citizenship.  Section  III. — From  Caracalla  to  Decius  : 
Elagabalus — Alexander  Severus — Peace  enjoyed  by  the  Christians — 
Maximinus  renews  persecution — Popular  animosit}'  towards  Christianity 
— The  elder  Gordians — The  younger  Gordian — Philip  the  Arabian — 
Tradition  of  his  Christianity — The  secular  games — The  Arval  Brotherhood 
— Oampromise  between  Christianity  and  official  Paganism         ...  ...  222 


CHAPTER    XL 

THE    CATACOMBS    OF    ROME. 

Section  L— Origin  of  the  Catacombs  :  Introductory — Care  of  all  Romans 
for  their  dead— Burial  clubs — First  Christian  cemeteries — Origin  of  the 
term  Catacomb — Extent  of  the  galleries — Suitability  for  excavation — 
Burial  of  martyrs — Use  of  Catacombs  for  other  purposes.  Section  H. — 
History  of  the  Catacombs  :  First  period — Remains  of  the  first  period 
— Second  period — Callistus — Earthing  up — Third  period — Damasus — 
Fourth  period — Raiding  of  the  Barbarians — Translation  of  relics — Re- 
discovery of  the  Catacombs.  Section  III. — Art  of  the  Catacombs  : 
Value  as  a  record — Christian  idea  of  Death — The  "Orante" — The 
"  Good  Shepherd  " — The  Fish — Inscriptions — Changes  after  the  Edict 
of  Milan  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...     263 


CHAPTER    XII. 

INNER  LIFE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

Section  I. — Rome:  Hippolytus  and  Callistus:  Liberal  and  austere  schools 
— Hippolytus'  "  Refutation  of  Heresies  " — Seriousness  of  the  dispute — 
Career  of  Callistus — Career  of  Hippolytus — Records  of  Hippolytus — The 
Papal  Crj-pt  —  Readmission  of  Penitents  to  Communion  —  Episcopal 
digamy— Celibacy — Marriage  of  slaves  with  the  free — The  Patripassian 
or  Sabellian  heresy — Relation  of  the   First  and  Second  Persons  of  the 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

PAGE 

Trinity — Teaching  as  to  the  Third  Person  of  the  Trinity.  Section  IT. — 
Carthage  :  Tertui.liax  :  Career  of  Tertullian — Christians  in  the  State 
service — Pagan  rites — Austerity  of  Tertullian's  views — Service  in  the 
Army — Compromise  or  no  compi-omise — Generally  liberal  attitude  of  the 
Chirrch — Force  of  Paganism — Relaxation  of  discipline — Montauus — 
Montanism — Adhesion  of  Tertullian.  Section  III. — Alexandria: 
Clement  and  Oriqen  :  Alexandi-ia  —  Pantsenus  —  Clement  —  Rise  of 
Origen— Quarrel  with  Bishop  Demetrius — Immense  literary  outj^ut  of 
Origcn — His  catholicity — His  speculative  tendencies  ...  ...  ...     290 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

FROM    DECIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN. 

Section  I. — Carthage  :  Cyprian  :  Carthage — The  original  home  of  Latin 
Christianity — Character  of  Cyprian — His  views  on  the  Episcopate 
— The  Decian  persecution — Apostasy  of  Christians — Absolution  by 
martyrs — Problem  of  the  "Lapsi" — The  plague  at  Carthage — Devotion 
of  Christians — Persecution  of  Gallus — Valerian — The  question  of  re- 
baptising — Stephen  of  Rome — Persecution  of  Valerian — Banishment  of 
Cyprian — Edict  of  258 — Arrest  of  Cyprian — Trial  and  martyrdom. 
Section  II. — Rome  :  Fabian,  bishop  and  martyr — Cornelius — The  Xova- 
tian  schism — Martyrs  of  the  arenaria — Stephen — Sixtus — St.  Laurence 
— Accession  of  Gallienus.  Section  III. — The  Roman  Emperors  : 
Gallienus — The  "  Thirtj'  Tyrants  " — Claudius  Gothicus — Aurelian — His 
Pagan  devotion — Persecution  of  Christians — Interregnum — Probus — 
Carus  and  his  sons — Treatment  of  Christians — Manichasism     ...  ...     341 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

DIOCLETIAN. 

Skction  I. — First  Period  :  Diocletian  and  Maximian  :  Increasing  con- 
nection between  Imperial  and  Ecclesiastical  history — Character  of  Diocle- 
tian— His  policy  of  Division  of  the  Empire — Maximian — Toleration  of 
Christianity  in  the  East — Hostility  of  Maximian— The  story  of  the 
"  Theban  Legion  " — Its  authenticity — The  Council  of  lUiberis — Pagan 
Monotheism — Porphyry.  Section  II. — ^Second  Period  :  The  Divided 
Empire  :  The  multiplication  of  Emperors — Constantius  Chlorus,  and 
Galerius — The  Edict  of  Persecution — Its  application  in  the  Army — 
Origin  of  the  persecution — The  second  Edict,  and  its  origin — The  Great 
Persecution — Not  enforced  by  Constantius — The  sacred  books  and  the 
"  Traditores  " — Cruelty  of  the  Persecution — The  TriumjA  of  Diocletian — 
Renewed  persecution.  Section  III. — Review  of  the  Persecution  : 
The  policy  of  Constantius  becomes  dominant  in  the  "West — Severities  of 
the  Diocletian  persecution — Computation  of  the  victims.  Section  IV. — 
Authorities:  Eusebius  —  Lactantius  —  "Acts"  of  the  Martyrs — The 
Catacombs  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...     396 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XV. 

CONSTANTINE    THE    GEEAT. 

PACK 

Section  I. — The  Eisb  of  Con.stantine  :  Dominance  of  Galerius — Death  of 
Constantitis  —  Constantine  proclaimed  —  Slaximin  Daia  —  Maxentius, 
Maximian,  and  Licinius — Rome  and  the  "  Lapsi " — Death  of  Maximian — 
And  of  Galerius  :  hia  Edict  of  Toleration — Persecution  of  Maximin  Daia 
— Affairs  in  the  West— Constantine  marches  agaim^t  lilaxentius — Battle 
of  the  Milvian  Bridge.  Section  II. — The  Convehsiok  oi'  Constantine  : 
Early  years  of  Constantine — Pagan  account  of  his  conversion — Story  of 
his  vision — The  account  of  Eusebius — Character  of  the  Emperor — Results 
of  the  victory— Effect  on  Maximin  Daia — The  Edict  of  Milan— Over- 
throw of  Maximin  Daia.  Section  III. — After  the  Edict  op  Milan  : 
Church  building  — Disputes  in  the  Church — Christian  legislation — 
Anomalous  position  of  the  Emperor — Constantine  becomes  sole  Emperor     439 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

FROM    PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY. 

Section  I.— The  Change  :  The  lament  of  the  Pagans— Distress  of  the  cul- 
tured classes— Popular  acceptance  of  Christianity — Largely  due  to  the 
persecutions.  Section  II. — Typical  Studies  :  Prudentius  and  his 
poem  the  I^eri  Stephanon — Paulinus  of  Nola— His  poetry — His  praises 
of  S.  Felix- S.  Blartin  of  Tours— Pope  Damasus— The  glorification  of 
the  martyrs — Vigilantius  and  Augustine       ...  ...  ...  ...     473 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

AFTER  THE  PEACE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

Section  I. — Christianity  and  the  Fall  of  the  Empire:  Acceptance  of 
Christianity — Supposed  demoralising  effects — Society  only  changed  its 
religious  fonnuhe— Influence  of  the  arena — Arianism— Extravagancies 
—The  Barbarian  descent — Augustine— Orosius—Salvian — Salutary  in- 
fluence of  the  great  Churchmen.  Section  II.— The  ^Monastic  Develop- 
ment: Chrysostom — St.  Anthony — The  Monks  of  the  Thebaid — Unani- 
mous approval  of  the  Fathers— The  Rule  of  Augustine— The  Ascetics— 
The  Rule  of  Basil— The  services  of  Monasticism — Conclusion    ...  ...     494 


APPENDICES. 

A. — Tables  of  Roman  Emperors  and  Bishops  of  Rome  ^,  ...  521 

B. — The  Presence  of  S.  Peter  at  Rome          ...              ...  ...  ...  524 

C. — On    the    Avthenticity    of     the   Seven    Epistles    and    "Acts"    of 

Martyrdom  of  S.  Ignatu's        ..              ...             ...  ...  •••  531 

D. — Notes  on  the  Pasmon  of  S.  Perpetua     ...             ...  ...  •••  537 

E. — Eusebius  the  Historian,  and  Lactantius..               ...  ...  •■■  541 

F. — Early  Heresies  of  the  Church...             ...             ..  ...  •■■  545 

G. — Extracts  from  Lactantius  and  Eusebius...             ...  ...  •■•  552 


EARLY  CHRISTIANITY  AND 
PAGANISM. 


INTRODUCTION. 

IT  has  been  justly  said  tliat  "  if  ever  there  was  a  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Supernatural,  it  was  in  the  condition  of  things 
out  of  which  arose  the  New  Testament.  We  have  only  to 
take  up  the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul,  and  we  find  him  surrounded, 
penetrated,  permeated  with  the  Supernatural.  It  is  as  it  were 
the  very  atmosphere  which  he  breathes.  He  does  not  assert 
it,  he  had  no  need  to  assert  it."* 

No  thoughtful  Christian  scholar  would  be  prepared  to 
question  this  statement.  It  is,  however,  generally  assumed 
that  as  the  men  who  had  been  personally  associated  with 
the  Divine  Founder  of  Christianity  passed  away,  open  mani- 
festations of  the  Supernatural  became  rarer  and  rarer  until 
they  ceased  altogether.  After  the  last  years  of  the  first 
century,  a  date  usually  given  for  the  death  of  S.  John,  the 
last  survivor  of  the  Apostolic  band,  few,  if  any,  authentic 
instances  of  that  open  manifestation  can  be  adduced.  But 
the  story  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  Christianity  during  the 
280  years  which  elapsed  between  the  Ascension  morning,  in 
A.D.  33,  and  the  Peace  of  the  Church  secured  by  the  famous 
Edict  of  Constantino  in  a.d.  313,  may  be  emphatically  looked 
upon  as  the  story  of  a  period  on  the  whole  permeated  with 
the  Supernatural. 

Outward    manifestations    of    the    Supernatural    no    doubt 

*  Prof.  Sanday  :  Bampton  Lectures,  Xo.  VII. 


2  EARLY  CHRISTIANITY  AND  PAGANISM. 

soon  ceased ;  but  a  spirit  not  belonging  to  the  ordinary 
course  of  things  still  dwelt  in  the  companies  of  Christians — 
a  spirit  which  gave  the  followers  of  "  The  Name "  a  special 
wisdom,  a  special  power  of  brave  endurance  of  suffering  in  the 
presence  of  world-wide  opposition  and  hatred,  in  the  presence 
of  angry  jealousy  and  sharp  dread  of  the  new  unlmown 
power  growing  up. 

In  spite  of  this  determined  enmity  on  the  part  of  the 
world  in  which  they  lived  and  moved,  an  enmity  which 
frequently  flamed  up  in  the  form  of  bitter  persecution,  these 
Christians — for  by  that  name  at  a  very  early  date  the 
followers  of  Jesus  Christ  were  called — flourished  in  a  strange 
fashion;  their  numbers  continued,  as  year  followed  year,  mar- 
vellously to  increase.  Their  recruits,  it  is  true,  were  drawn 
largely  from  the  stratum  composed  of  the  lower  classes  of 
Roman  society,  but  they  by  no  means  consisted  entirely 
of  persons  drawn  from  that  stratum.  Their  converts  were  to 
be  found  in  all  classes,  in  the  Imperial  household  on  the  Pala- 
tine, in  lordly  patrician  families,  among  senators  and  lawyers, 
soldiers  and  merchants,  as  well  as  the  vast  slave  popula- 
tion. They  mcluded  men  and  women  of  all  ranks,  of  all 
ages.  One  singular  characteristic  feature  was  common  to  them 
all — they  never  resisted  their  oppressors,  their  persecutors. 
They  were  ever  the  most  loyal  of  subjects  ;  conspiracy,  rebellion, 
discontent  with  the  established  state  of  things — though  the 
established  state  of  things  was,  as  a  rule,  absolutely  inimical 
to  their  very  existence — were  simply  unknown  among  them 
during  the  whole  period  of  280  years  of  which  we  are  writing. 

Their  life,  their  brave  patient  persistence,  their  marvellous 
endurance  during  these  280  years,  tell  us  that  something 
supernatural  dwelt  among  them,  inspired  them,  blessed  them : 
something,  termed  in  the  phraseology  of  the  Christians  the 
"  Holy  Spirit,"  which  did  not  belong  to  this  world — which 
had  never,  as  far  as  we  know,  been  manifested  to  the  same 
extent  before  in  any  society,  and  certainly  has  never  been 
manifested  since. 

After  this  first  period  the  Imperial  Government  gave  up 
distrusting,    opposing,   persecuting    these   Christians.     It   went 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

further.  The  Empire  soon  adopted  as  the  "  State  Religion " 
the  creed  of  the  long  persecuted  sect,  the  creed  which  during 
those  280  years  she  had  chosen  to  regard  as  a  pernicious 
superstition,  positively  inimical  to  the  State.  Thus  the 
History  of  the  Christian  Church  falls  naturally  into  two 
great  divisions :  the  first  from  its  foundation  A.D.  33  to 
A.D,  313,  the  date  of  the  Edict  of  the  Emperor  Constantine, 
which  gave  peace  to  the  Church ;  the  second  from  a.d.  313 
to  the  present  time. 

The  first  division  embraces  the  chronicle  of  the  prolonged 
years  of  struggle,  when  Christianity  not  only  was  not  the 
religion  of  the  civilised  world,  but  was  the  religion  of  a 
sect  at  first  comparatively  small  and  chiefly  powerful  owing 
to  its  earnestness  and  its  unity,  though  the  numbers  of  the 
body  scattered  all  over  the  Empire  were  after  a  time  consider- 
able. All  through  this  period  it  was  positively  an  illegal 
religion,  proscribed  as  such  by  the  laws  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  The  nervous  words  of  the  famous  Carthaginian 
teacher  Tertullian  {circa  A.D.  200),  admirably  sum  up  the 
position  of  Christians  all  through  that  time — "  Non  licet  esse 
vos  "   ("  It  is  not  lawful  to  be  you  "). 

The  second  division  of  the  History  of  the  Church  com- 
prises the  whole  period  reaching  from  a.d.  313  to  the 
present  day.  Not  only  did  the  Edict  of  Constantine  in 
A.D.  313  make  Christianity  a  lawful  religion,  but,  a  few 
years  later,  it  became  the  rehgion  of  the  State,  the  favoured 
cult,  the  cult  professed  by  the  Emperor. 

A  gi-eat  gulf  naturally  separates  these  two  divisions  :  for 
good  or  for  evil,  a.d.  313  marks  the  parting  of  the  ways. 
In  the  second  period  the  conditions  which  coloured  the 
story  of*  the  Church  in  the  first  are  completely  changed. 
With  the  second  period  the  present  work  does  not  profess 
to  deal.  It  is  virtually  confined  to  the  first  period,  that  of 
stress  and  storm,  when  the  confession  of  "  the  Name "  was 
simply  iUegal,  when  its  confessors  were  liable  to  the  gTavest 
penalties,  to  imprisonment,  confiscation,  even  to  death.  These 
penalties  were  not  always  exacted,  it  is  true,  but  the  Chris- 
tian  professor   was   still    liable   to   them.     Roughly    speaking, 


4  EARLY  GHBI8TIANITY  AND  PAGANISM. 

about  half  of  the  280  years  were  times  of  bitter,  relentless 
persecution ;  but  even  during  the  periods  of  stillness,  when 
the  penalties,  referred  to  above,  were  not  generally  enforced, 
the  sword  of  the  Law  was  ever  hanging  suspended  over  the 
heads  of  Christians,  and  the  cord  on  which  the  sword 
hung  was  indeed  a  slender  one.  At  any  hour,  the  caprice 
of  an  Emperor,  the  fanatical  zeal  of  a  provincial  governor, 
the  unreasoning  fury  of  a  mob,  excited  by  passion,  greed, 
jealousy,  unexplained  uneasiness,  might  call  down  on  the 
heads  of  the  Christians  resident  in  the  city  or  province 
the  execution  of  a  law  which  pronounced  them  dangerous 
to  the  State,  enemies  of  Rome.  The  story  of  these  early 
years  is  one  indeed  of  surpassing  interest,  for  it  describes 
how  the  Church  of  Christ  in  the  face  of  tremendous  opposi- 
tion, with  all  the  forces  of  the  civilised  world  perpetually 
arrayed  against  it,  slowly,  surely  won  its  way;  using  in  its 
quiet  steady  progress  no  earthly  arms,  never  resisting  by 
force  the  will  of  the  dominant  power  represented  by  the 
Government ;  its  members  only  in  comparatively  rare  cases 
complying  with  the  summons  to  give  up  their  profession  of 
faith,  constantly  preferring  to  submit  to  any  penalties,  even 
to  death,  rather  than  deny  the  Name  of  the  Founder,  the 
Name  they  loved  better  than  life. 

Following  a  practice  very  different  from  that  usual  among 
professors  of  any  of  the  persecuted  forms  of  religion  before 
their  time,  or  even  among  professors  of  a  persecuted  religion 
after  their  time,  the  Christians  throughout  these  years,  although 
conscious  of  their  numbers,  their  organisation  and  their 
power,  never  took  up  arms  against  their  persecutors ;  these 
hated,  despised,  outlawed  men  continued  to  be  the  most 
loyal  and  peaceful  subjects  of  the  great  world-wide  Empire. 
It  is  this  strange  power  of  passive  resistance,  to  which  we 
have  alluded  above,  and  of  which  we  shall  speak  again, 
which  is  one  of  the  principal  evidences  of  a  special  super- 
natural assistance  being  vouchsafed  to  them. 

When  we  come  to  write  in  detail  of  the  inner  life  of  the 
Church,  by  which  name  the  Christian  sect  from  the  earliest 
days  of  its  existence  styled  itself,  we  shall  see  what  were  the 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

sure  hopes  which  hved  in  the  community  from  the  beginning ; 
hopes  which  inspired  them  to  hve  the  hfe  which  seemed  so 
strange  to  their  contemporaries ;  which  gave  them  courage, 
in  the  midst  of  so  many  and  great  perils,  serenely  and 
calmly  to  face  the  loss  of  ever3'^thing  dear  to  man,  even  to 
welcome  death.  Briefly,  their  adored  Founder,  whom  they 
justly  looked  upon  as  Divine,  had  supplied  them  with  informa- 
tion respecting  what  would  come  after  death — a  question 
always  of  surpassing  interest,  and  one  which  in  the  first  and 
second  centuries  seems  to  have  especially  agitated  the  thoughts 
of  the  Roman  world. 

The  Christian  in  possession  of  this  information  was  freed 
from  all  dread  of  the  hereafter;  for  him,  to  die  was  to 
depart  and  be  with  Christ;  this  was  far  better  than  to 
remain  on  here  even  under  the  circumstances  of  a  happy 
earthly  environment.  The  noble,  the  illustrious  by  birth 
or  by  fortune,  was  freed  from  all  fear  and  dread  of  the 
Csesar  whose  arbitrary  and  fatal  power  was  so  often  a 
threatening  spectre  to  the  wealthy  Roman  noble.  The  slave, 
a  member  of  the  enormous  sad -eyed  caste,  as  a  Christian 
became  at  once  the  freedman  of  the  All-mighty  Christ;  very 
short  indeed  would  be  his  period  of  slavery,  it  would 
terminate  with  this  brief  life.  Death  to  the  Christian  slave 
signified  immediate  freedom;  and  a  life  of  joy  and  peace 
too  beautiful  for  human  pen  to  describe  would  at  once 
follow  dissolution.  To  all  faithful  Christians,  bond  or  free, 
patrician  or  plebeian,  rich  or  poor,  the  religion  of  Jesus 
assured  a  blissful,  restful,  endless  immortality. 

The  meetings  together  of  the  people  who  had  embraced 
the  faith  of  Jesus — whether  held  in  some  quiet  upper  chamber 
in  a  street  of  Rome  or  Antioch,  of  Ephesus  or  Carthage,  or 
by  some  secluded  river  side,  or  in  the  dimly  lit  corridor  of 
those  Cemeteries  men  have  come  to  call  the  Catacombs, 
where  their  dead  were  laid  to  sleep  beneath  old  Rome — must 
have  been  strangely  joyous;  the  gatherings  where  the  hopes, 
the  joys,  the  rewards  of  the  Redeemer  were  discussed  in 
terms  of  quiet  but  impassioned  enthusiasm,  must  have  been 
indeed   inspiring.     It   was   at   these   that   they  gathered  their 


6  EARLY  GHBISTIANITY  AND  PAGANISM. 

courage,  their  brave  patience,  their  sure  hope  of  a  blessed, 
bhssful  immortahty. 

Of  such  meetings,  again  and  again  repeated,  we  catch 
sight  in  the  well-known  words  of  Pliny,  the  Koman  provincial 
Governor,  in  the  writings  of  such  teachers  as  Justin  Martyr 
and  TertuUian,  in  a  few  of  the  best  authenticated  Acts  of 
Martyrs ;  more  vividly  perhaps  still  in  the  marvellously  pre- 
served passages  and  chambers  of  the  network  of  cemeteries 
(termed  catacombs)  beneath  the  Appian  and  other  roads 
hard  by  Rome:  where  many  a  dim  and  faded  painting  tells 
us  how  these  Christians,  during  nearly  three  centuries,  met 
together  and  rehearsed  their  glorious  hopes,  their  happy  out- 
look, their  deathless  faith. 

It  will  be  seen,  as  we  proceed  in  this  our  work,  how  we 
have  no  lack  of  material  out  of  which  to  construct  the 
wondrous  story  of  Christianity  in  the  first,  second,  and  third 
centuries. 

These  materials  out  of  which  our  account  of  the  laying 
of  the  early  stories  of  Christianity  is  constructed,  are  many 
and  various ;  more  ample  indeed  by  far  than  the  ordinary 
student  of  Church  History  guesses.  Only  for  one  short 
period  are  they,  comparatively  speaking,  scanty,  and  even 
for  that  short  period  authoritative  data  do  not  by  any  means 
fail  us. 

For  the  first  eventful  years,  that  is,  from  about  a.d.  30 
to  A.D.  33,  the  materials  are  ample.  They  are  mainly  the 
Gospels  and  the  early  chapters  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 
From  A.D.  33  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment carry  on  the  story  until  the  deaths  of  SS.  Peter  and 
Paul  circa  a.d.  67;  while  the  testimony  of  S.  John  in  his  Gospel, 
Revelation,  and  Epistles,  written  after  the  deaths  of  S.  Paul 
and  S.  Peter,  tells  us  much  concerning  the  character  of  the 
teaching  of  the  great  survivor  of  the  original  companions  and 
disciples  of  Jesus  up  to  the  very  end  of  the  first  century. 

Thus,  until  the  close  of  the  first  century  the  testimony 
of  the  Books  of  the  New  Testament  is  ever  at  hand,  supply- 
ing us  with  materials  which  enable  us  to  frame  a  fairly 
exhaustive  account  of  the  laying  of  the   early   stories  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

Christian  Church ;  for  a  tradition  which  may  be  said  to  be 
unvarying  relates  how  S.  John  Uved  and  taught  and  wrote 
at  Ephesus  until  the  year  of  our  Lord  99  or  100. 

In  addition  to  the  inspired  compositions  of  S.  John,  we 
possess  a  few  writings  put  out  in  the  last  decade  of  the  first 
century  and  in  the  early  years  of  the  second  century,  by 
men  who  were  disciples  of  the  Apostles ;  such  as  the  Epistle 
of  Clement  of  Rome,  a  letter  addressed  about  a.d.  96  to  the 
Church  of  Corinth  and  universally  received  by  scholars  as 
absolutely  authentic;  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas  which  cannot 
be  dated  much  later;  the  seven  famous  Epistles  of  Ignatius 
of  Antioch,  belonging  to  the  year  107,  now,  in  what  is 
generally  known  as  the  Vossian  Recension,  after  long  con- 
troversy accepted  as  indisputably  genuine ;  the  Epistle  of 
Polycarp  of  Smyrna  sent  circa  a.d.  108 ;  the  Letter  to 
Diognetus,  the  first  part  of  which  was  evidently  put  out 
early  in  the  second  century.  The  recently  discovered  treatise 
known  as  the  "  Teaching  of  the  Apostles,"  by  an  unknown 
writer,  belongs  to  the  same  very  early  period.  The  "  Apology 
of  Aristides,"  presented  to  Hadrian,  lately  brought  to  light, 
was  composed  circa  a.d.  124-130.  The  "  Shepherd  of 
Hermas "  was  written  a  few  years  later.  The  writings  (of 
some  considerable  length)  of  Justin  Martyr  must  be  roughly 
dated  a.d.  145-150,  the  varied  works  of  Irenseus  a.d.  170-180 
or  somewhat  earher ;  and  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
these  early  Christian  authors  were  closely  connected  one 
with  the  other.  Clement  of  Rome  was  the  disciple  of  Peter 
and  probably  of  Paul ;  Ignatius  was  a  pupil  of  the  Apostles  ; 
Polycarp,  the  friend  of  Ignatius,  was  a  hearer  of  S.  John 
the  Apostle ;  Irenseus  tells  us  how,  when  young,  he  sat  at 
the  feet  of  Polycarp.  Thus  an  unbroken  chain  of  writers 
and  teachers  links  the  age  of  S.  John  with  the  latter  years 
of  the  second  century  and  the  earlier  years  of  the  third 
century ;  when  there  arose  a  group  of  famous  Christian 
teachers,  many  of  whose  voluminous  writings  are  preserved 
to  us  in  so  perfect  a  form  that  the  most  ample  materials 
are  present  to  our  hand  for  a  history  of  the  struggles  and 
anxieties  of  this   time,  lasting   from  the  days    of  Irenseus   of 


8  EARLY  CHRISTIANITY  AND  PAGANISM. 

Lyons  (circa  a.d.  170-180)  until  the  middle  of  the  third 
century.  This  group  of  teachers  includes  Clement  of  Alexandria 
(circa  A.D.  190),  Hippolytus  of  Rome  (a.d.  201,  generally  quoted 
as  Bishop  of  Portus),  Tertulhan  of  Carthage  (circa  a.d.  200), 
Origen  of  Alexandria  (circa  a.d.  230),  and  Cyprian  of  Carthage 
(circa  A.D.  250).  We  give  the  rough  dates  assigned  as  the 
central  points  in  the  periods  of  influence  of  these  great 
Christian  teachers ;  an  influence,  of  course,  usually  extend- 
ing for  some  years  before  and  after  the  year  named. 

Thus,  although  the  list  of  trustworthy  contemporary  authori- 
ties for  our  history,  for  some  seventy  years  after  the  death  of 
S.  John,  is  not  a  long  one,  still  in  the  providence  of  God, 
enough  of  such  writings  has  been  preserved  to  enable  us 
to  form  from  them  a  reliable  story  of  the  work  and  progress 
of  Christianity  during  that  all-important  period.  With  great 
force  a  modern  scholar  of  the  highest  rank*  thus  lucidly 
sums  up  the  reasons  why  this  precious  hst  of  writings 
between  a.d.  100  and  a.d.  170  is  not  longer.  "Time  has 
pressed  with  a  heavy  hand  upon  such  literature  as  the  early 
Church  produced.  The  unique  position  of  the  Apostles  and 
Evangelists  might  shield  their  writings  from  its  ravages,  but 
the  literature  of  the  succeeding  generation  had  no  such 
immunity.  It  was  too  desultory  in  form,  too  vague  in 
doctrine,  to  satisfy  the  requirements  of  more  literary  circles 
and  a  more  dogmatic  age.  Hence  while  Athanasius,  Basil 
and  Chrysostom,  Jerome,  Augustine  and  Ambrose  were 
widely  read  and  frequently  transcribed,  comparatively  little 
attention  was  paid  to  those  writings  of  the  first  and  second 
centuries  which  were  not  included  in  the  sacred  Canon. 
The  literary  remains  of  the  primitive  age  of  Christianity, 
which  to  ourselves  are  of  priceless  value,  were  suffered  to 
perish  from  neglect,  a  few  fragments  here  and  there  alone 
escaping  the  general  fate." 

How  much  we  have  lost  of  these  precious  early  works 
from  which  we  might  have  drawn  so  much,  we  learn  from 
the  references  and  quotations  of  Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Ca^sarea 

*  Bishop  Lightfoot  of  Durham:  The  Apostolic  Fathers,  Vol.  I.,  Section  1, 
Part  1,  S.  Clement  of  Rome. 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

in  the  first  lialf  of  the  fourth  century,  in  his  invaluable 
"Ecclesiastical  History."  A  catalogue  of  some  of  the  writings 
belonging  to  the  second  century  quoted  by  this  eminent 
scholar  and  compiler,  writings  which  were  available  in  his 
day  but  now  have  vanished,  is  sufficient  to  indicate  to  us 
something  of  the  extent  of  our  loss. 

1.  Papias,  the  friend  of  Poly  carp,  on  the  very  verge  of 
the  first  age,  early  in  the  second  century,  wrote  an  "  Exposi- 
tion in  five  Books  of  the  Oracles  of  the  Lord." 

2.  Hegesippus,  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century, 
put  out  an  "Ecclesiastical  History  in  five  Books." 

3.  Dionysius,  Bishop  of  Corinth,  also  in  the  middle  of 
the  second  century,  wrote  many  letters ;  Eusebius  especially 
makes  mention  of  "his  inspired  industry." 

4.  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis ;  Claudius  Apollinaris,  Bishop 
of  Hierapolis.  These  two  once  famous  teachers,  shortly  after 
A.D.  150,  were  the  authors  of  many  works  on  Scriptural 
interpretations,  controversial  divinity,  ecclesiastical  order,  and 
other  subjects. 

5.  Polycrates,  Bishop  of  Ephesus  ; 

6.  Theophilus,  Bishop  of  Antioch ;  as  writers,  were  well 
loiown  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  second  century  when  Eusebius 
wrote  and  used  their  works. 

But,  except  for  a  few  meagre  fragments,  all  this  voluminous 
literature  quoted  and  referred  to  by  writers  such  as  Irenseus, 
second  century,  Clement  of  Alexandria  and  Origen,  third 
century,  Eusebius  of  Csesarea,  fourth  century,  has  been 
blotted  out,*  has  vanished ;  largely  no  doubt  owing  to  the 
causes  above  detailed. 

Very  early  in  the  History  of  Christianity  we  catch  sight 
of  teachers   and   schools   of  thought  growing   up  outside  the 

*  In  the  last  two  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  researches  of  scholars 
in  ancient  libraries  have  brought  to  light  several  of  the  early  works  of  the  second 
century,  notably  "  The  Teaching  of  the  Apostles,"  written  in  the  early  years 
of  the  second  century;  "The  Apology  of  Aristides,"  circa  a.d.  130-140;  "The 
Diatessaron,"  a  Harmony  of  the  four  Gospels,  by  Tatian,  circa  a.d.  175;  the  so- 
called  "Apocalypse  of  S.  Peter,"  of  the  first  years  of  the  second  century;  and 
the  so-called  "Gospel  of  S.  Peter,"  circa  a.d.  160.  We  may  hope,  as  time  goes 
on,  that  other  pieces  of  this  vanished  early  literature  will  come  to  light. 


10  EARLY  CHRISTIANITY  AND  PAGANISM. 

Christian  communities  commonly  classed  as  heretics  and 
heretical,  but  for  the  most  part  utterly  alien  from  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ,  although  they  seem  to  have  introduced  the 
name  of  Christ  into  their  strange  and  often  purely  fanciful 
systems.  They  may  be  roughly  divided  into  two  great 
divisions,  the  one  Judaising  and  the  other  Gnostic.  The 
Judaising  Heretics  more  or  less  denied  the  reality  of  Christ's 
sufferings,  curiously  imagining  that  the  Christ  of  the  Gospel 
was  only  a  phantom  appearance.  The  other,  the  Gnostic 
Heretics,  under  different  names,  seem  to  have  introduced 
some  Christian  elements  into  philosophical  systems  of  a 
different,  mostly  of  an  Oriental  origin. 

The  tares  grew  well-nigh  as  rapidly  as  did  the  wheat, 
and  as  Christians  were  multiplied  and  began  to  be  numbered 
by  thousands  in  the  different  countries  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
so  these  heretical  bodies  numbered  also  their  thousands. 
The  term  Gnostic  is  apparently  of  later  origin,  and  in  the 
second  and  third  centuries  the  heretics  were  generally  named 
after  the  leaders  of  the  special  school  to  which  they  belonged, 
such  as  Valentinians  and  Marcionites,  the  names  of  two  of 
the  more  conspicuous  schools.  These  Gnostics  appeared 
certainly  as  early  as  the  close  of  the  first  century,  and  before 
the  middle  of  the  second  century  were  beyond  doubt  widely 
spread ;  all  through  that  century  (the  second)  and  the  first 
half  of  the  third,  they  evidently  occupied  a  conspicuous 
position,  owing  to  their  numbers,  their  organisation,  and 
their  learning.  After  the  first  half  of  the  third  century  the 
early  heretical  schools  appear  gradually  to  have  withered 
away,  and  their  place  was  filled  by  new  and  quite  different 
schools  of  false  teaching. 

How  numerous  and  formidable  in  the  early  days  of 
Christianity  were  these  heretical  groups,  we  see  from  the 
prominence  given  to  the  refutation  of  their  strange  and 
perverted  tenets  in  the  fragments  of  primitive  Christian 
literature  which  have  come  down  to  us ;  notably  in  the  works 
of  Irenseus  of  Lyons  (second  half  of  the  second  century), 
of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Tertullian  of  Carthage  and  Origen 
of  Alexandria  (end   of  second  century  and  beginning  of  third 


INTBODUGTIOK  11 

century),  and  of  Hippolytus  of  Portus  and  of  Rome,  who 
might  also  be  dated  as  writing  circa  a.d.  200. 

In  the  ranks  of  these  numerous  and  widely  spread 
heretical  schools  of  thought  were  not  a  few  scholars  and 
thinkers,  and  even  voluminous  writers,  from  whose  works 
we  might  have  hoped  to  derive  much  knowledge  of  the 
teaching,  the  life,  and  the  history  of  the  early  Christians, 
from  whose  ranks  they  had  originally  sprung  in  part,  and 
with  whom  they  were  pleased  to  class  themselves ;  but  all 
their  original  works,  writings,  histories,  expositions  of  the 
sacred  books,  have  disappeared.  It  is  beheved  that  only  one 
or  two  productions*  of  these  strange  early  dissenters  from  the 
Catholic  faith  have  come  down  to  us.  All  our  laiowledge, 
alas !  of  these  once  famous  schools  is  derived  from  treatises 
of  their  bitter  opponents,  put  out  by  Christian  teachers,  such 
as  Irenseus,  Hippolytus,  TertuUian,  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
and  Origen  ;  for  example,  Origen  (first  half  of  third  century) 
gives  us  some  forty-eight  extracts  Csome  of  considerable 
length)  from  the  great  Valentinian  expositor  Heracleon. 

From  Pagan  writers,  the  compiler  of  early  Christian 
History  gets  comparatively  little  assistance.  A  few  short 
passages  in  Tacitus  and  Suetonius  and  in  the  well-known 
letters  of  Pliny  the  Younger  and  the  Emperor  Trajan  are 
almost  the  solitary  exceptions. 

For  a  long  period  Christianity  was  little  Imown  to  the 
majority  of  Roman  literary  men.  It  was  by  many  mistaken 
for  a  Jewish  sect ;  the  religion  of  the  Jew  was  despised 
generally,  and  when  not  despised,  was  feared  and  dreaded 
as  a  pernicious  superstition ;  and  when  towards  the  middle 
and  second  half  of  the  second  century,  the  religion  of  the 
Christians,  owing  to  the  increasmg  numbers,  the  earnestness  and 
the  intense  reality  of  the  faith  of  the  Christian  communities 
in  all  parts  of  the  Empire,  compelled  a  certain  recognition 
from  the  Government  and  the  Emperor,  a  studied  silence 
on   the   part   of  Pagan   writers   and    thinkers    was    evidently 

*  The  TTiffTis  ffocpia  of  Valentinus  circa  the  middle  of  the  second  century 
(edited  by  Petennan,  Berlin,  1851),  and  the  recently  discovered  "Hymn  of  the 
Soul,"  perhaps  the  work  of  Bardesanes. 


12  EARLY  CHRISTIANITY  AND  PAGANISM. 

observed.  They  would  not  describe  the  progress  of  a  [religion, 
or  discuss  the  curious  problem  of  its  mighty  influence|  over 
so  many  souls.  To  the  thoughtful  Roman  philosopher  its 
steady  advance  boded  no  good  to  Rome  ;  in  his  eyes  it  was 
rather  a  menace  to  the  enduring  prosperity  of  the  Empire. 
A  good  example  of  this  singular  studied  reticence  is  the 
solitary  mention  by  the  great  and  good  Emperor  Marcus, 
A.D.  161-180,  of  his  Christian  subjects ;  where  he  alludes  to 
their  fearlessness  in  the  presence  of  death,  to  their  ready 
willingness  to  die.  But  the  Emperor's  mention  is  a  de- 
preciatory one,  and  is  coloured  too  evidently  by  the  feelings 
of  dislike  and  even  dread  with  which  he  regarded  these 
people  who  professed  a  faith  he  was  unable,  perhaps  cared 
not,  to   understand. 

Such  a  compilation  as  that  on  which  we  are  at  present 
engaged  must  include  not  only  the  record  of  the  principal 
historical  facts  connected  with  the  Christians  who  lived  in 
the  first  three  centuries,  but  must  embrace  also  much  that 
belongs  to  their  private  life.  The  effect  of  that  faith,  for 
which  the  Christians  of  the  days  of  persecution  gave  up 
so  much,  upon  the  every-day  life  of  its  professors,  must  be 
dwelt  upon  at  some  length.  We  possess  materials  of  the 
highest  value  for  this  special  part  of  our  work  on  the  every- 
day life  of  the  Christians. 

From  the  remains  of  some  of  the  early  writers,  such  as 
Hermas,  Justin  Martyr,  Hippolytus,  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
Minucius  Fehx,  Tertullian,  Origen,  Cyprian,  we  draw  much 
of  our  knowledge  here.  These  often  take  us  into  what  we 
may  term  the  every-day  life  of  the  Christians  Avho  lived  in 
the  first,  second,  and  third  centuries ;  they  describe  often 
vividly  and  graphically  the  difficulties  and  temptations,  the 
hindrances  and  persecutions,  to  which  the  Christian  was 
exposed.  But  besides  these  writings  we  possess  some  other 
and  most  important  memoranda  to  which  we  may  refer  for 
such  particulars.  These  are  the  special  accounts  of  martyrs, 
and  of  men  and  women  who  suffered  for  the  faith  which  they 
professed.  Now  these  precious  memoranda  are  divided  into 
two    classes.      The    first    of    these,   the   "  Acts "    properly    so 


INTBODUGTION.  13 

called,  are  largely  copies  of  the  official  reports  (the  proces 
verbaux)  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Roman  Court  of  Justice 
before  which  the  accused  Christian  was  summoned,  and  by 
which  the  accused  was  condemned.  Such  copies  of  reports, 
bearing  as  they  do  a  purely  official  character,  were  sold  by 
the  officials  of  the  Court  of  Justice  to  friends  of  the  accused, 
and  were  preserved  by  them,  or  most  probably  by  the 
Ministers  of  the  Church  of  which  the  condemned  were 
members,  as  a  memorial  of  those  persons  who,  in  witnessing 
a  good  confession  sealed  for  the  most  part  by  the  sacrifice 
of  their  lives,  did  honour  by  their  good  and  noble  example 
to  the  congregation  to  which  they  had  belonged. 

A  few  admirable  specimens  of  such  official  reports,  the 
genuineness  of  which  is  undisputed,  are,  amongst  others, 
the  Acts  of  S.  Justin  (Martyr),  of  S.  Cyprian,  and  of  the 
Scillitan  martyrs.  Only,  however,  a  few  of  such  official 
reports,  most  precious  relics  indeed,  have  come  down  to  us. 
The  second  class,  also  commonly  known  as  "  Acts  of  the 
Martyrs,"  but  more  properly  designated  as  the  "  Passions  of 
Martyrs,"  are  very  numerous. 

These  are  something  more  than  dry  official  reports  of 
the  interrogations  of  the  Court  of  Justice,  and  profess  to 
give  at  length  the  story  of  portions  of  the  life,  especially 
of  the  imprisonment,  trial,  and  death  of  the  confessors  or 
martyrs.  Many  of  the  details  of  these  "  Passions  of  the 
Martyrs"  are  improbable,  deal  largely  with  supernatural 
incidents  connected  with  the  confessor  whose  "  passion " 
forms  the  subject  of  the  narrative,  and  are  evidently  the 
work  largely  of  narrators,  or  compilers  of  the  lives,  writing 
in  many  cases  long  after  the  events  happened  which  they 
professed  to  relate  as  eye-witnesses ;  only  a  very  few  of  these 
"  passions "  bear  the  stamp  of  genuineness,  and  have  come 
unharmed  through  the  crucible  of  criticism.  Among  these 
few  acknowledged  genuine  contemporary  "  Passions  "  are  "  The 
Letter  of  the  Church  of  Smyrna  to  the  Philomehans  which 
relates  the  Martyrdom  of  S.  Polycarp "  ;  "  The  Letter  of  the 
Churches  of  Lyons  and  Vienne,  which  tells  the  Story  of  the 
Martyrs  of  a.d.   177";  "The  Passion  of  S.  Perpetua  and  her 


14  EARLY  CHRISTIANITY  AND  PAGANISM. 

Companions."  There  are  besides  these  a  few  more  such 
reliques  which  are  generally  accepted  as  genuine.  But  while 
we  must  set  aside  the  actual  authority  of  the  great  majority 
of  these  narratives  as  being  mainly  compilations  of  a  period 
more  or  less  removed  from  the  time  when  the  events  related 
were  said  to  have  taken  place,  recent  discoveries  of  archaeo- 
logists, such  as  those  of  De  Kossi  and  his  successors  at  Rome, 
have  nevertheless  shown  us  that  in  the  case  of  many  of 
these  so-called  spurious  "passions"  a  large  substructure  of 
truth  existed,  and  that  the  general  character  of  the  recital 
was  often  based  on  events  which  really  took  place.  Hence 
our  views  of  much  of  what  has  been  regarded  as  sjourious 
and  belonging  to  romance  rather  than  to  history,  require, 
in  the  light  of  this  late  investigation  by  scholars,  considerable 
modification  and  reconstruction.  The  importance  of  these  late 
discoveries  for  our  conceptions  of  the  life  led  by  the  Christians 
roughly  between  a.d.  34  and  313,  will  be  discussed  later. 

In  such  a  history  as  that  on  which  we  are  now  engaged, 
nothing  perhaps  is  so  striking  as  the  fact,  demonstrated  by 
abundant  evidence  drawn  from  all  quarters  of  the  Roman 
Empire  during  these  280  years,  of  the  oneness,  the  identity, 
of  the  faith  which  lived  in  the  countless  scattered  congrega- 
tions of  Christians  in  such  different  national  centres  as  Rome 
and  Corinth,  Ephesus  and  Antioch,  Alexandria,  Carthage, 
and  Lyons ;  of  the  oneness  of  the  faith  which  inspired 
nobles  and  slaves,  soldiers  and  traders,  men  and  women, 
old  and  young,  alike  to  live  changed  lives,  to  undergo 
unheard  of  dangers,  to  brave  frightful  perils,  to  endure 
tortures,  to  disregard  death. 

From  the  beginning  the  faith  was  one,  absolutely  change- 
less in  its  essential  features.  We  read  it  expressed  in  clear 
emphatic  language  in  the  writings  of  Peter  and  Paul,  who 
passed  away  by  violent  death  in  the  'sixties  of  the  first 
century,  and  in  the  Gospel,  Apocalypse,  and  Letters  of  John, 
who  survived  till  the  last  years  of  the  same  century; 
and  these  had  learned  it  from  the  Master  Himself.  We 
find  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  faith  in  the  letters 
of  disciples   and   pupils,  in  the  Epistles  of  Clement  of  Rome, 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

of  Ignatius  of  Antioch,  of  Polycarp  of  Smyrna,  in  the 
apologies  and  writings  of  their  younger  contemporaries  and 
successors,  such  as  Aristides,  the  apologist  before  the  tribunal 
of  the  Emperor  Hadrian ;  Justin  Martyr,  the  scholarly  Greek ; 
and  in  the  next  generation  Iren£eus  Bishop  of  Lyons,  in 
Gaul.  It  is  repeated  by  Hippolytus  of  Rome,  by  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  and  Tertullian  of  African  Carthage,  who  wrote 
and  preached  and  taught  scarcely  a  hundred  years  after 
the  Apostles  of  the  Master  had  passed  away.  The  same 
faith  was  again  reiterated  by  the  great  teachers  of  the  first 
half  of  the  third  century,  by  Origen  of  Alexandria  and 
Cyprian  of  Carthage.  After  eighteen  centuries  the  same 
precious  changeless  tradition  is  the  heritage  of  the  Christian 
Church,  in  all  its  essential  features,  alike  in  Moscow  and 
Constantinople,  in  Rome  and  m  London. 

And  the  centre  of  all  early  Cathohc  teaching  was  Jesus 
Christ,  His  work  for  men,  His  love  for  men,  His  blood  which 
He  shed  for  men. 

Critics  who  imagine  that  the  lofty  conceptions  of  later 
ages  on  the  subject  of  the  pre-existence  of  Jesus  Christ,  of 
His  Divinity,  of  His  being  Very  God  of  Very  God,  were 
evoked  by  the  Arian  controversies  of  the  fourth  century, 
are  strangely  ignorant  of  the  letter  and  sphit  of  the  teaching 
of  primitive  Christianity.  Indeed,  the  language  used  by 
such  writers  as  Clement  of  Rome  and  Ignatius  of  Antioch — 
the  first  of  whom  was  the  disciple  of  Paul  and  Peter,  and 
the  latter  a  scholar  of  the  Apostles — and  even  by  Hippolytus 
nearly  a  century  later,  in  expressing  their  belief  in  our 
Lord's  Divinity,  while  lacking  the  precision  of  the  terminology 
determined  by  the  great  Church  Councils  of  the  fourth 
century,  was  occasionally  so  strong  as  almost  to  verge  upon 
Patripassianism."^ 

*  Patripassian  was  a  name  of  reproach  given  at  the  end  of  the  second 
century  to  those  theologians  who,  without  careful  definition  of  the  sole  original 
Principahty  of  the  Father,  claimed  the  Plenary  Godhead  for  the  Son  the 
Eedeemer.  The  more  accurate  theologians  of  that  age  when  the  air  was 
charged  with  speculative  controversies,  drew  an  awful  conclusion  that  the 
loose  and  somewhat  startling  phraseology  used  now  and  again  without  due 
consideration,  asserted  that  the  Father,  the  one  primary  principle,  must  have 
sufEered  on  the  cross. 


16  EARLY  CHRISTIANITY  AND  PAGANISM. 

Irenseus,  Bishop  of  Lyons  in  Gaul,  a  great  teacher  of  the 
last  quarter  of  the  second  century,  many  of  whose  Avritings 
are  preserved  to  us,  singles  out  Clement  of  Rome's  Letter 
to  the  Corinthians  as  transmitting  in  its  fulness  the 
Christianity  taught  by  the  Apostles,  more  especially  by  S. 
Peter  and  S.  Paul.  This  letter  exhibits  the  behef  of  his 
Church  (that  of  Rome)  as  to  the  true  interpretation  of  the 
Apostolic  records.  "  To  Clement,  as  to  the  mass  of  devout 
Christians  of  all  ages,  Jesus  Christ  is  not  a  dead  man  whose 
memory  is  reverently  cherished  by  men,  or  whose  precepts 
are  carefully  observed,  but  an  ever  living,  ever  active 
Presence,  who  enters  into  all  the  circumstances  of  their 
being."  * 

A  similar  conception  of  Jesus  Christ  is  found  in  Polycarp 
and  Ignatius.  The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity  is  also 
plainly  taught  in  each  of  these  very  early  writers,  as  are 
the  doctrines  of  the  Atonement  and  Mediation  of  Christ. 
There  is  absolutely  a  perfect  accord  in  the  teaching  respect- 
ing these  great  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  all  the  writings  of  the  primitive  fathers. 

To  give  examples  of  the  remarkable  unity  in  the  teaching 
of  the  first  ages  of  Christianity : — A  general  agreement  from 
very  early  times  to  keep  holy  the  first  day  of  the  week  in 
commemoration  of  the  Resurrection  of  the  Lord  was  common 
to  all  the  Churches.  The  two  great  Sacraments  instituted 
by  Jesus  Christ,  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  we  find 
repeatedly  mentioned  in  the  earliest  writings  as  a  necessary 
part  of  Christian  life.  The  most  careful  provision  for  the 
due  administration  of  these  Sacraments  was  made  in  all  the 
Churches  without  exception. 

With  a  few  minor  differences,  the  government  and  ad- 
ministration of  the  inner  Hfe  of  all  the  Christian  Churches 
was  the  same.  Before  the  middle  of  the  second  century 
each  Church  or  organised  Christian  community  had  its  three 
orders  of  ministers,  its  bishop,  its  presbyters,  and  its  deacons ; 
while  very  early  in  that  century  (the  second)  it  is  clear  that 
the    episcopal    office  was    universally   established    in    all    the 

*  Bishop  Lightfoot:   Clement  of  Rome,  vol.  i.,  vi.,  p.  308. 


INTBODUGTION.  17 

churches ;  indeed,  "  Episcopacy  is  so  inseparably  interwoven 
with  all  the  traditions  and  beliefs  of  men  like  Irenseus  and 
TertuUian,  whose  writings  are  spread  over  the  last  thirty 
years  of  the  second  century  and  the  first  twenty  of  the 
third,  that  they  betray  no  knowledge  of  a  time  when  it  was 
not."  "^  The  repeated  and  ample  testimony  of  Ignatius  here 
takes  us  back  to  the  time  of  S.  John,  and  although  the 
estimate  of  the  authority  of  episcopacy  seems  to  have  varied 
as  time  went  on  in  different  Christian  centres,  historical 
testimony  is  unanimous  as  to  its  existence  even  in  the  first 
century.  There  was  no  divergence  here  in  the  various 
Churches  in  the  question  of  government. 

Lastly,  it  is  perfectly  clear  whence  the  Catholic  f  Church 
of  the  earliest  days  derived  her  faith  and  drew  her  teaching. 
One  voice  proceeds  from  the  Christian  communities  of  each 
of  the  gi'cat  centres  of  the  ancient  Church,  from  Antioch  and 
Alexandria,  from  Smyrna  and  from  Rome,  in  the  utterances 
of  Ignatius  and  Barnabas,  of  Polycarp  and  Clement.  The  more 
famous  early  teachers,  it  is  true,  appealed  rarely  to  written 
words,  for  they  had  heard  the  living  voice  of  the  Apostles 
of  the  Lord.  But  their  teaching  is  based  entirely  upon  those 
discourses  and  actions  of  the  Lord  which  we  find  recorded  in 
the  Gospels,  and  upon  no  others.  It  is  also  evident  that  at 
least  the  great  majority  of  the  Epistles  of  S.  Paul,  S.  James. 
S.   Peter,   and    S.    John    contained    m    our    New    Testament 

*  Bishop  Lightfoot:  "Dissertation  on  the  Christian  Ministry"  in  Commentary 
on  Philippians. 

■\  The  expression  "  Catholic  "  is  used  here  in  the  technical  sense  it  assumed 
about  the  middle  of  the  second  century.  Originally  it  meant  simply  "  universal," 
"general";  so  the  Resurrection  is  spoken  of  at  an  early  date  as  the  Catholic, 
i.e.  the  general.  Resurrection.  The  earliest  extant  example  of  the  use  of  the 
term  in  its  technical  theological  sense,  the  "  Catholic  Church,"  is  in  the 
"  Martyrdom  of  Polycarp,"  a  document  in  the  form  of  a  letter  addressed  by 
the  Church  of  Smyrna  to  the  Church  of  Philomelium  {circa  a.d.  157).  We 
find  it  again  in  the  very  early  famous  "  Muratorian  Fragment  on  the  Canon," 
and  in  Clement  of  Alexandria  towards  the  end  of  that  century  (the  second). 
In  these  writings  the  term  Catholic  Gliurch  means  the  orthodox  and  apostolically 
descended  Church,  as  distinguished  from  sectarian  and  heretical  communities. 
Catholic  simijly  is  orthodox  as  opposed  to  heretical.  In  the  third  century, 
e.g.  in  all  the  writings  of  Tertullian  and  Origen,  the  word  in  its  technical  sense 
had  passed  into  common  use. 
C 


18  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

Canon  were  known  to  them;  and  upon  these  Epistles  and 
no  others,  and  upon  the  words  and  acts  of  the  Lord  above 
referred  to,  they  based  their  teaching  and  formulated  their 
creed ;  a  changeless  teaching-  and  a  creed  which  from  the 
first  days  has  been  the  heritage  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

Thus  in  its  strange  grand  unity  the  Christian  Church, 
in  each  of  its  important  centres  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe, 
during  the  last  decade  of  the  first  and  the  early  decades  of 
the  second  century,  taught  the  same  faith,  told  the  same 
wondrous  story,  basing  faith  and  story  upon  the  same 
traditions  oral  and  written,  the  traditions  enshrined  in  the 
Gospels  and  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament. 

Just  the  first  little  group  of  Apostolic  men,  Clement, 
Ignatius,  and  Polycarp,  omitted  to  quote  from  the  written 
records  by  name,  because  they  had  heard  with  their  ears 
the  words  of  the  Gospels  and  the  teaching  of  the  Epistles 
from  the  lips  of  the  Apostles  of  the  Lord.  But  by  the  next 
generation  of  teachers,  made  up  of  men  who  had  not  been 
privileged  to  hear  the  voices  of  Peter,  Paul,  and  John,  while 
identically  the  same  faith  was  taught  and  in  almost  the 
same  words,  the  written  traditions  of  these  same  men  were 
quoted,  and  with  ever  greater  circumstantiality  as  the  years 
of  the  second  century  wore  on.  We  would  instance  Papias, 
Justin,  Irenseus,  Clement,  Tertullian,  the  Christian  teachers 
at  Hierapolis  and  at  Rome,  at  Lyons,  Alexandria  and 
Carthage,  never  varying  in  the  great  essential  doctrines, 
never  suggesting  any  novel  doctrine,  only  quoting  from  the 
same  original  records  with  ever  greater  accuracy  and  care 
as  time  advanced,  teaching  the  same  fundamental  truths  as 
did  the  Apostolic  Fathers,  Clement,  Polycarp,  and  Ignatius. 

The  earliest  "  versions "  into  which  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament  were  translated  from  the  original  Greek  in  which 
they  were  first  written,  the  S3rriac  and  the  old  Latin,  both 
translations  certainly  made  in  the  second  century,  tell  the 
same  story  of  the  unity  of  Catholic  Christendom  in  the  all- 
important  matter  of  the  Records  of  primitive  Christianity, 
received  and  acknowledged  by  the  Christian  Churches  of  the 
East  and  the  West.     The  witness  of  these  earliest  translations 


INTBODUGTIOJSr.  19 

is  most  weighty,  for  while  they  exhibit  the  books  contamed 
in  what  is  termed  the  New  Testament  Canon,"^  they  sanction 
no  Apocryphal  books  whatever.  They  speak  here  of  the 
imity  of  the  primitive  Church,  with  the  voice  of  very  early 
Christendom,  a  voice  none  can  gainsay  or  dispute. 

This  wonderful  unity  of  the  early  Church  in  its  estimate 
of  the  Divinity  of  the  Founder,  of  His  ever-presence  among 
each  company  of  those  who  believed  in  Him,  and  of  His 
support  of  each  individual  member ;  in  the  great  doctrines 
connected  with  the  Founder,  in  the  worship  of  the  Church, 
in  the  government  of  the  Church,  in  its  acknovdedgment  of 
the  one  primitive  tradition  of  the  Founder's  teaching,  oral 
and  ^vritten;  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  its  enormous  power, 
which  no  opposition,  no  persecution,  ever  affected  or  touched. 
That  unity  immeasurably  helped  to  secure  the  eventual 
triumph  of  the  Church  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  fourth 
century. 

*  The  omissions  of  one  or  other  of  these  earliest  versions  to  include  certain 
of  the  Epistles,  notably  that  of  S.  James,  the  "  Hebrews,"  and  the  Apocalypse 
of  S.  John,  omissions  owing  to  local  and  other  special  reasons,  do  not  affect 
the  great  argument.  Combined  with  the  original  Greek,  these  ancient  versions 
practically  represent  the  New  Testament  Scriptures,  just  as  we  now  possess 
them,  as  they  were  read  throughout  the  whole  of  Christendom  towards  the  close 
of  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  Era. 


20 


CHAPTER      I. 

FIRST    STAGES. 
SECTION    I. — THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Our  recital  in  detail  of  the  events  connected  with  the  rise 
and  progress  of  Christianity  begins  with  the  year  of  our 
Lord  62.  In  that  year  the  writer  of  the  "Acts  of  the 
Apostles"  lays  down  his  pen,  and  for  the  history  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  the  years  immediately  following  that 
date  we  are  dependent,  as  far  as  regards  inspired  sources, 
on  scattered  notices  which  we  gather  mainl}'-  from  the 
Pastoral  Epistles  of  S.  Paul,  from  the  two  Epistles  of  S. 
Peter,  especially  the  first,  from  the  writings  of  S.  John — his 
Gospel  and  Epistles,  belonging  to  the  last  years,  of  the  century, 
and  his  Apocalypse* — and  from  certain  other  writings  included 
in  the  New  Testament  Canon,  such  as  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews. 

But  after  a.d.  62,  when  the  memoirs  of  the  "  Acts  of 
the  Apostles"  were  closed,  we  possess  no  continuous  chronicle 
by  an  inspired  writer,  such  as  we  find  in  the  first  three 
Gospels  and  in  the  "Acts,"  of  the  Church's  foundation,  work, 
and  progress.  The  task  of  the  compiler  really  begins  from 
that  year  (a.d.  62),  when  we  believe  that  S.  Paul  was  released 
from  his  Roman  imprisonment,  and  for  a  period  of  some 
five  or  six  more  years  resumed  his  missionary  labours.  Of 
those  labours  we  possess  little  or  no  trustworthy  informa- 
tion. Tradition  is  unanimous  in  asserting  that  the  appeal 
which  the  Apostle  made   in   the  Court  House  at  Csesarea  to 

*  The  date  of  this  work  (a.d.  C8-70)  is  discussed  telow,  p.  58. 


FIRST   STAGES.  21 

the  Emperor  terminated  successfully ;  tliat  he  was  acquitted 
of  the  charges  laid  against  him  by  his  Jewish  enemies,  and 
that  after  his  acquittal  he  again  resumed  his  old  work,  and 
— in  the  language  of  his  disciple  Clement,  who  w^as  after- 
wards Bishop  of  the  Eoman  Church — preached  the  Gospel 
in  the  East  and  West,  instructing  the  whole  world  {i.e.  the 
Roman  Empire)  in  righteousness;  travelhng  even  to  the 
extremity  of  the  West  before  his  martyrdom.  This  martyr- 
dom, according  to  universal  tradition,  took  place  at  Rome 
about  A.D.  67-8.  We  shall  presently  relate  the  terrible 
calamities  which  befel  the  Roman  Christians  between  a.d. 
62-3  and  a.d.  67-8.  It  was  no  doubt  in  the  course  of 
these  dread  events  that  the  great  teacher  laid  down  his 
OAvn  life. 

But  up  to  A.D.  62  the  Divine  story  shrined  in  the  New- 
Testament  Canon  relates  the  beginning  of  Christianity.  The 
Synoptical  Gospels  known  as  S.  Matthew,  S.  Mark,  and  S. 
Luke  speak  of  the  first  three  years :  these  are  too  sacred 
for  ordinary  analysis.  They  deal  with  only  one  life,  but 
it  is  that  of  the  Divine  Founder  of  the  religion  which  all 
the  world  is  by  degrees  to  embrace — not  rapidly  as  men 
count  years,  but  surely,^'  each  succeeding  decade  enrolHng 
fresh  recruits  for  the  Christian  army.  Then  the  "Acts  of 
the  Apostles "  speaks  of  the  progress  of  the  rehgion  after 
the  first  three  years ;  it  tells  of  the  Ascension  morning  and 
after.  The  two  termini  of  the  "  Acts "  are  a.d.  33  and 
A.D.  62.  It  is  a  %vonderful  book  inspired  by  the  Divine 
Wisdom ;  but,  dift'ering  from  the  Gospels,  it  does  not  defy 
analysis,  for  the  persons  whose  "  acts "  are  related  in  it  are 
mere  mortals ;  men,  many  of  them  highly  blessed,  owing  to 
the  work  entrusted  to  them,  but  men  of  hlie  passions  with 
ourselves. 

*  On  the  morro-w  of  the  Ascension  of  our  Lord  the  Christian  Church 
numbered  a  few  hundreds — certainly  not  a  thousand.  Three  thousand,  then 
five  thousand,  were  added  by  the  preaching  of  Peter  after  the  first  Pentecost. 
The  number  gradually  increased.  It  has  been  roughly  computed  that  three 
hundred  years  after  Christ  about  two  persons  in  every  three  hundred  of  the 
population  of  the  globe  were  Christian.  Now  in  a.d.  1901  the  proportion  is 
said  to  be  over  two  in  seven. 


22  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

The  "Acts"  takes  up.  the  story  on  the  morrow  of  the 
Resurrection  of  the  Lord — on  the  morrow  of  the  wonderful 
event  which  was  really  the  commencement  of  Christianity. 
At  the  rock  tomb  of  Joseph  of  Arimathsea,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  friends  and  foes  of  Jesus,  the  strange  career  of  the  Great 
Master  appeared  to  be  closed  for  ever.  In  spite  of  the 
words  of  the  crucified  Teacher,  no  one  appeared  to  have 
even  dreamed  of  a  resurrection  of  the  loved  or  hated  Jesus ; 
seemingly  all  was  at  an  end. 

The  Evangelists  in  their  closing  chapters,  the  author  of 
the  "Acts"  in  his  beautiful  memoir,  serene  and  unim- 
passioned,  tell  the  true  story  of  their  disappointment,  dis- 
illusion, cowardice,  despair,  which  passed  into  intense  joyful 
surprise.     They  conceal  nothing. 

Again,  the  astonishment,  vexation,  dismay  of  the  San- 
hedrim and  of  the  Jewish  rulers  is  portrayed  with  the  same 
quiet  and  passionless  truthfulness.  The  governing  body  of 
the  Hebrew  people  had  worked  their  will  upon  the  Teacher 
they  hated.  They  had  done  Him  to  death.  His  followers, 
whom  they  looked  upon  as  persons  of  humble  origin,  of 
little  learning,  and  of  no  particular  abihty,  were  dispersed; 
they  could  afford  to  treat  such  men  and  women  with  con- 
temptuous neglect.  The  influential  men  in  the  Sanhedrim 
knew  of  Peter  and  John,  they  were  acquainted  with  the 
Maries,  but  they  did  not  care  to  secure  their  persons — they 
were  not  worth  a  second  thought;  they  would  quietly  dis- 
appear into  the  mass  of  the  people  whence  they  came,  now 
that  their  Leader  was  gone.  These  able  and  unscrupulous 
persons,  Annas,  Caiaphas,  and  the  others,  judged,  and  judged 
correctly,  that  the  whole  movement  centred  in  the  person 
of  Jesus ;  and  now  that  He  was  out  of  the  way  surely  the 
movement  had  collapsed,  was  stamped  out,  crushed,  ex- 
tinguished and  for  ever! 

When  the  startling  intelligence  was  brought  to  the  San- 
hedrim chiefs  that  the  group  of  despised  and  illiterate 
Galila^ans,  of  whom  they  had  expected  never  to  hear  again, 
were  teaching  and  even  preaching  with  splendid  eloquence 
hard    by    the    sacred    Temple,    and   were    positively    making 


FIRST   STAGES.  23 

converts  by  thousands,"^  great  indeed  must  have  been  their 
surprise  and  dismay.  Something  had  evidently  happened 
which  had  changed  these  timorous,  saddened  men  into  fear- 
less preachers  of  a  condemned  religion  and  a  dead  Master. 
What  had  transformed  illiterate  fishermen  and  peasants  into 
impassioned,  eloquent,  and  even  learned  teachers  and  preachers? 
It  was  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  which  had  effected  the 
former ;  it  was  the  illapse  of  the  Spirit  in  the  Divme  Breath 
of  Pentecost  which  produced  the  latter  startling  phenomenon. 

From  the  morrow  of  the  Eesurrection  and  after  Pentecost 
the  opposition  of  the  Sanhedrim  and  of  the  rulers  of  the 
Jews  to  the  new  sect  of  Christians  (we  use  the  well-known 
appellation,  though  it  belongs  to  a  somewhat  later  date)  was 
fitful  and  uncertain  ;  now  showing  itself  chiefly  in  measures 
of  extreme  severity  and  harshness,  now  paying  apparently 
little  heed  to  the  vast  developing  power.  Evidently  from 
the  "Acts"  narrative,  various  feelings,  perplexity  and  some 
awe,  as  well  as  jealousy  and  hate,  were  at  work  among  the 
Sanhedrim  and  the  influential  Jews.  At  all  events,  the 
fitful  opposition  produced  little  if  any  efifect  on  the  fortunes 
of  the  fast  growing  community  of  believers  in  the  crucified 
and  risen  Jesus.  The  main  interest  in  the  story  of  the 
"  Acts "  is  concentrated  upon  the  development  of  the  Church 
or  community  of  Christians. 

For  a  considerable  period  it  remained  a  strictly  Hebrew 
Church ;  but  gradually,  and  partly  through  supernatural 
agencies,  the  consciousness  of  their  world-wide  mission  came 
to  the  Christian  leaders.  For  several  years  after  the  Pentecost 
miracle  the  commanding  personality  of  Peter  gave  him  the 
first  place  in  the  community.  With  him,  however,  we  find 
constantly  associated  John,  the  Disciple  whom  Jesus  especially 
loved.  It  was  to  Peter  that  the  revelation,  which  worked 
so  mighty  an  influence  on  the  Christian   religion,   came — the 

*  The  writer  of  the  "Acts"  mentions  the  numbers — three  thousand  and 
subsequently  five  thousand — who  joined  the  ranks  of  the  believers  in  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  after  some  of  the  burning  and  mo^^ng•  addresses  of  Peter  at  Jerusalem. 
The  compiler  never  indulges  in  over-coloured  pictures.  The  narrative  is 
scrupulously  unemotional. 


24  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

revelation  which  Isaiah  centuries  before  had  plainly  fore- 
shadowed in  his  striking  words :  "  It  is  a  light  thing  that 
thou  shouldest  be  My  servant  to  raise  up  the  tribes  of  Jacob, 
and  to  restore  the  preserved  of  Israel:  I  will  also  give  thee 
for  a  light  to  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  mayest  be  My  salvation 
unto  the  end  of  the  earth."     (Isaiah  xlix.  6.) 

Christianity  during  its  first  years  of  existence  made  extra- 
ordinary and  rapid  progress,  but  exclusively  in  the  Jewish 
world.  It  was  not,  indeed,  by  any  means  confined  to 
Jerusalem  or  to  Palestine ;  for  it  numbered  among  its  converts 
Jews  dwelling  in  such  centres  as  Antioch  and  probably  at 
Home ;  but  it  was,  as  it  has  been  well  termed,  an  expanded 
Judaism.  It  was  preached  by  Jews,  and  was  addressed  to 
Jews ;  it  was  limited,  national,  exclusive.  But  all  this, 
apparently,  after  some  three  years,  was  changed,  the  border- 
land of  Samaria,  between  Judaism  and  heathendom,  being 
then  included  in  the  great  Christian  fold — Peter  and  John, 
on  the  Samaritan"^  mission,  still  representing  the  Apostolic 
College. 

But  a  far  more  important  development  of  Christian  work 
was  entrusted  in  the  first  place  to  the  famous  Apostolic 
leader:  the  Church  of  Jesus  must  become  a  world-wide 
Church. 

A  Divine  revelation  contained  in  a  striking  vision  disclosed 
to  Peter  that  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Christian 
Church  might  be,  ought  to  be,  offered  to  the  whole  heathen 
world.  In  the  Roman  city  of  Csesarea  took  place  the  baptism 
and  admission  of  the  heathen  soldier,  the  Roman  Cornelius  ; 
the  old  barrier  between  the  Jew  and  the  Gentile  was  broken 
down ;  henceforth  in  the  Christian  community  there  was  no 
distinction  between  the  Jew,  the  child  of  the  chosen  people, 
and  the  Gentile  of  the  great  world  which  lay  outside  the  old 
charmed  circle  of  the  Children  of  Israel. 

This  action  of  Peter  in  admitting  the  great  Gentile  world 
into    the    Christian    community    was    formally    approved    at 

*  The  Samaritans,  although  unacknowledged  hy  the  genuine  Jews,  claimed  to 
he  Jews,  and  in  many  respects  lived  like  Jews.  They  can  scarcely  be  classified, 
however,  as  Jews,  but  emphatically  they  were  not  heathen  or  idolaters. 


FIRST   STAGES  25 

Jerusalem  by  a  Council  of  Apostles  and  Brethren,  some  eight 
or  nine  years  after  the  first  Pentecost. 

The  first  great  section  of  the  "Acts  of  the  Apostles"  may 
be  said  to  be  closed  by  this  all-important  development  of 
Christian  work.  From  this  epoch,  the  chief  work  in  the  now 
widely  extended  Church  passes  into  other  hands  than  those 
of  Peter.  A  master  mind  appears  on  the  stage,  and  a  trained 
and  cultured  Jewish  scholar  occupies  the  chief  place  m  the 
work  of  preaching  Jesus  to  the  vast  world  which  lay  outside 
the  Holy  Land.  Paul,  a  Jew  of  Tarsus,  an  important  personage 
in  the  official  world  of  Jerusalem,  is  the  prominent  person 
henceforth  in  the  book  of  the  "Acts":  his  mission  journeys, 
which  extended  through  the  populous  districts  of  Asia  Minor 
and  Greece,  the  opposition  he  met  with,  his  striking  successes, 
his  first  arrest  by  the  Roman  Government  at  the  instigation 
of  the  Jews,  and  his  subsequent  arrival  at  Rome,  fill  up  most 
of  the  remainder — the  larger  half,  indeed,  of  the  inspired 
book  of  the  "  Acts."  The  time  occupied  in  the  "  Acts  "  recital 
covers  about  thirty  years,  perhaps  scarcely  so  much.  The 
following  table  of  the  rough  dates  of  some  of  the  principal 
events  of  these  thirty  years  will  give  an  idea  of  the  time 
taken  up  by  these  early  endeavours,  developments,  changes 
in  the  Christian  Church.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  exact  chronology  of  this  period,  especially  in  the  earlier 
portion,  is  somewhat  uncertain. 


Chronology  of  the  Acts. 


A.D. 


The  public  Ministry  of  Jesus  Christ  commenced...         30 
The  Crucifixion  and  Resurrection  of  Jesus  ...         33 

The  first  Pentecost  and  its  miracle...         ...         ...         33 

Preaching  of  Peter  and  John  to  the  Samaritans  ...         35-6 
Baptism  and  formal  admission  of  the  Roman  cen- 
turion Cornelius  to  the  Christian   Church,   by 
Peter,    approved    by   Council   of  Apostles   and 
Brethren  at  Jerusalem    ...         ...         ...         ...         41-2 

First    Qnissionary   journey    of    Paul     to    Cyprus, 

Pamphylia,  Pisidia,  Lycaonia     ...         ...         ...         45-6 


26  EARLY    CEBI8TIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Paul's  missionary  work  among   the  Gentiles  form-         a.d. 
ally    approved    by   a   Council  of  Apostles  and 
Elders  at  Jerusalem        ...         ...         ...         ...       49-50 

Paul's    second  journey  in  Galatia,  L3rcaonia,  Mace- 
donia, Attica  (Athens),  Corinth 51-4 

Paul's   third  journey  in  Galatia,   Proconsular  Asia 

(Ephesus),   Macedonia,   Corinth,   Achaia         ...       54-8 

Paul's  arrest  at  Jerusalem,  imprisonment  at  Csesarea, 

journey  to  Rome  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...       58-9 

Paul's  Roman  imprisonment,  acquittal  and  release ; 

close  of  "Acts" 60-3 

Such  is  the  "  Acts  of  the  Apostles,"  a  book  compiled  according 
to  the  universal  tradition  of  Christianity  by  Luke,  an  intimate 
friend  and  a  companion  of  Paul,  and  received  among  the 
inspired  books  of  the  New  Testament  by  all  the  Churches 
at  a  very  early  date.  Its  extreme  importance  as  a  history 
of  the  Church  during  the  thirty  years  which  followed  the 
Resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus  cannot  be  overrated.  It  is 
penetrated,  permeated  with  the  supernatural — accounts  of 
miracles,  revelations,  visions,  supernatural  appearances  of  the 
Lord,  and  occasionally  of  Beings  not  belonging  to  this  world 
of  ours.  Beings  called  angels,  like  golden  threads  run  through 
the  whole  tapestry  of  the  work  of  the  "Acts."  They  cannot 
be  separated  from  it.     They  form  a  necessary  part  of  it. 

The  writer  is  intensely  anxious  to  give  a  true  picture  of 
the  time.  Nothing  is  concealed  or  veiled.  The  weaknesses, 
doubts,  fears,  mistakes  of  the  human  actors  are  faithfully 
recorded.  Well-nigh  a  third  of  these  early  pages  of  Christian 
history  are  filled  with  the  account  of  the  missionary  travels 
of  that  great  teacher  who  was  entrusted  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  carry  the  first  message  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  to 
the  Gentile  world.  These  journeys  beyond  the  frontiers  of 
the  Land  of  Promise  are  dwelt  upon  with  considerable  detail. 
The  manner  of  reception  of  the  Divine  message  in  important 
centres,  such  as  in  Ephesus,  in  the  Pisidian  Antioch,  in 
Athens,  Corinth,  Thessalonica,  Rome,  is  described  with  more 
or  less  fulness. 


FIRST  STAGES.  27 

This  weighty  section  of  the  earhest  Christian  history — the 
"  Travel  Document "  as  it  has  been  termed — has  been  woven 
into  the  general  story  by  the  writer  of  the  "Acts,"  little 
changed  evidently  from  the  original  document  composed  no 
doubt  by  S.  Paul  himself,  or  written  under  his  immediate 
influence.  The  great  space  allotted  in  the  "  Acts "  to  this 
"  Travel  Document "  is  an  indication  of  the  vast  importance 
attached  by  the  early  Christians  to  the  movements  which 
opened  the  portals  of  the  Church  to  the  world  lying  outside 
the  sacred  and  hitherto  rigidly  guarded  enclosure  of  the 
Chosen  People. 

We  have  found  that  in  the  first  years  Christianity  was 
but  an  expanded  Judaism,  preached  by  Jews  and  addressed 
to  Jews.  The  Christian  Church  of  the  first  days  was  a 
purely  Hebrew  Church.  The  Messiah  was  a  Jew  of  the 
purest  race  ;  His  disciples  were  earnest,  we  should  say,  even 
bigoted  Jews  ;  for  several  years  no  Gentile  seems  to  have  been 
admitted  into  the  sacred  circle  of  Apostles  and  their  disciples. 
Even  after  the  breaking  down  of  the  immemorial  wall  which 
surrounded  the  earliest  Christian  Church  as  it  had  done  the 
Jewish  Synagogue,  we  find  Paul  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles 
telling  his  wondrous  story  first  in  the  sj^nagogues  of  cities 
such  as  Ephesus,  Corinth,  and  Pisidian  Antioch.  It  was  from 
these  Jewish  centres  that  he  seems,  certainly  for  a  long 
while,  to  have  gathered  his  converts  for  the  main  part. 

The  religious  revolution  inaugurated  by  Peter  and 
developed  by  Paul,  Barnabas,  and  their  immediate  followers 
was  of  tremendous  import.  For  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  become  the  Church  of  the  world  a  thousand  religious 
fences  must  be  broken  down,  numberless  prejudices  of 
convention  and  tradition  must  be  sacrificed,  numberless 
cherished  safeguards  which  had  hitherto  been  the  life  of 
the  nation  must  be  abandoned.  No  wonder  that  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  "  Acts "  is  consecrated  firstly  to  the  recital 
telling  of  the  revelation  to  Peter  which  directed  that  all 
privileges  of  the  Christian  converts  should  be  offered  to  the 
whole  heathen  world,  and  secondly  to  the  famous  "Travel 
Document "  of  Paul,  relating  how  the  command  contained  in 


28  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

tlie  revelation  to  Peter  was  carried  into  effect  by  Paul  and 
his  companions. 

This  book,  which  contains  the  history  of  the  Catholic 
Church  during  the  thirty  years  which  followed  the  Resur- 
rection of  the  Lord,  was,  as  we  have  said,  received  into  the 
Canon  of  Holy  Scripture  from  the  earliest  times.  Its 
authenticity  and  genuineness  have  never  been  disputed.  It 
is  contained  in  the  oldest  version  made  in  the  second  cen- 
tury, viz.  the  Peschitta-Syriac — a  revision  of  the  old  Syriac 
version,  probably  made  and  used  within  the  Apostolic  age 
— and  in  the  Old  Latin,  made  and  used  certainly  before 
A.D.  170.  The  great  Christian  writers  who  flourished  towards 
the  end  of  the  second  century,  Irena^us  (a  hearer  of  Polycarp) 
in  Gaul,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  Tertullian  of  Carthasfe, 
frequently  and  expressly  quote  this  book.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  from  the  close  of  the  first  century  onwards 
the  Catholic  Church  has  ever,  without  a  dissentient  voice, 
accepted  as  inspired  the  testimony  of  the  "Acts  of  the 
Apostles." 

SECTION   II. — THE   JEW   IN   ROME. 

In  less  than  two  years  after  the  acquittal  of  Paul  and  his 
subsequent  departure  from  Rome  on  his  last  long  missionary 
journey,  the  terrible  persecution  directed  by  the  Emperor 
Nero  against  the  Christian  community  at  Rome  began.  The 
date  of  this  awful  calamity  was  August,  a.d.  64  With  more 
or  less  severity  this  persecution  lasted  some  four  years. 

Before  telling  the  dark  story  of  the  Neronic  persecution, 
which  to  a  certain  extent  determined  the  hostile  relations 
that,  with  intervals  of  partial  quiet,  were  henceforward  to 
exist  between  the  Christian  sect  and  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment for  nearly  two  centuries  and  a  half,  it  will  be  well 
to  give  some  description  of  the  Roman  Christian  community, 
which  at  the  early  date  of  a.d.  64  was  numerous  enough 
and  of  sufficient  importance  to  attract  the  hostile  notice  of 
the  Emperor  Nero  and  his  advisers. 

We  have  already  dwelt  on  the  fact  that  in  the  first  days 
of  Christianity    the   Church    of    Jesus    Christ    was    purely    a 


FIRST   STAGES.  29 

Jewish,  community.  The  Divine  Fomider  in  His  earthly 
relationships  was  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews.  His  disciples, 
their  converts,  the  first  Christian  communities,  were  Jews ; 
to  the  ordinary  Roman  citizen,  Christians  were  simply  a 
Jewish  sect. 

Rome,  from  the  year  a.d.  33  onwards,  was  more  than  the 
capital  of  the  civilised  world;  more  than  merely  the  seat 
of  the  Government  of  the  Roman  Empire;  it  was  the  centre 
of  all  its  life,  civil,  military,  literary.  To  take  a  modern 
comparison,  Rome  in  the  first  and  second  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era  was  all  that  London  and  Paris,  Berlin  and 
Vienna,  St.  Petersburg,  modern  Rome,  and  New  York  to- 
gether,  are   to  the  civilised  world  of  the  twentieth  century. 

In  this  great  centre  of  peoples,  the  Jew  for  a  considerable 
period  had  been  a  well-known  personage.  As  early  as  138 
B.C.  there  was  a  Jewish  colony  in  Rome.  In  58  B.C.  we 
come  upon  a  curious  reference  to  the  presence  and  influence 
of  this  people  in  the  great  metropolis.  Cicero  was  pleading 
in  the  Forum  for  one  Flaccus,  who  had  incurred  the  enmity 
of  the  Jews  of  Rome  by  forbidding  the  sending  of  the  sacred 
tribute  to  Jerusalem ;  and  from  time  to  time  in  the  course 
of  his  pleading,  we  read  how  the  great  lawyer  lowered  his 
voice  in  order  that  what  he  said  might  not  be  heard  by  the 
crowd  of  Jews  thronging  the  forum  :  "  You  know,"  said  the 
famous  advocate,  "how  numerous  they  (the  Jews)  are,  and 
how  united,  and  what  commanding  influence  they  exert, 
sometimes  turbulently  in  the  public  assemblies ;  to  offend 
the  Jews  is  a  matter  of  the  gravest  import." 

Julius  Csesar,  in  his  day  of  supreme  power,  markedly 
courted  these  stranger  residents,  and  bestoAved  on  them  a 
succession  of  favours.  While  he  lived  these  Jews  were 
among  his  most  steadfast  adherents,  and  after  the  Dictator's 
murder  they  showed  their  attachment  by  gathering  round 
his  funeral  pyre  on  the  Campus  Martins,  weeping  and  utter- 
ing loud  cries  of  lamentation  by  night  as  by  day.  The 
Emperor  Augustus  (27  B.C.  to  a.d.  14)  contmued  the  favours 
shown  to  them  by  the  first  and  greatest  of  the  Caesars. 
After  the  death   of  Augustus   the   influence  which    these,   for 


30  EABLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  most  part,  poor  stranger  folk,  gradually  acquired  in 
Koman  society  evoked  considerable  jealousy,  dislike,  and 
suspicion ;  and  an  anti-Jewish  feeling,  somewhat  of  the 
character  of  the  modern  Juden-hetze  (hatred  of  the  Jews), 
so  common  a  feature  in  the  nineteenth  century  in  many  of 
the  Continental  cities  of  Europe,  suggested  strong  measures 
of  repression  on  the  part  of  the  Government.  In  a.d.  19, 
under  the  Emperor  Tiberius,  they  were  summarily  expelled 
from  the  city,  and  a  similar  decree  in  a.d.  49  again  banished 
them  from  Rome.  Yet  these  expulsions  had  but  little 
permanent  effect.  The  Jews  were  too  deeply  rooted  to  be 
eradicated  permanently,  and  very  soon  after  each  banishment 
they  seem  to  have  returned  to  the  metropolis  in  greater 
numbers  than  ever. 

What  now  was  the  secret  of  their  power,  of  their  influ- 
ence ?  The  question  has  been  often  asked,  it  is  being  asked 
still.  The  Jews  were  not  a  specially  beautiful  race,  if  physical 
beauty  is  in  the  question.  They  have  rarely  been  singled 
out  as  specially  winning  writers  or  profound  thinkers,  or  far- 
seeing  statesmen ;  they  have  numbered  in  their  ranks  but 
few  soldiers  or  sailors  of  pre-eminent  skill,  or  conspicuous 
valour,  though  perhaps  an  average  number  of  each  and  all 
of  these  have  never  been  wanting  in  the  Jewish  race.  No 
important  historian,  however  far  above  all  race-partiality  or 
favour,  would  dream  of  speaking  of  them  as  a  lovable  people, 
as  a  people  likely  to  call  out  feelings  of  enthusiasm  or  ad- 
miration. The  feeling  the  Jew  has  evoked  has  been  rather 
dishke — not  unmixed  with  envy  at  their  strange  prosperity, 
particularly  in  commercial  matters  important  and  unimpor- 
tant, and  their  vast  unexplained  power  in  the  various  centres 
where  any  considerable  numbers  of  them  have  settled.  What 
then  was  their  secret?  The  answer  is  found  in  the  Old 
Testament  story.  For  some  reason  unknown  to  men  the 
Eternal  God  Whose  ways  are  not  our  ways,  ages  before  the 
Ceesars  ruled  in  Rome  over  the  world,  chose  them  as  His 
peculiar  people,  and  in  spite  of  their  faults  and  many  short- 
comings, the  blessing  of  the  Eternal  God  has  ever  rested  on 
them.     Again   and   again   they   forfeited   through   their   faults 


FIRST   STAGES.  31 

and  repeated  disobedience  the  position  among  men  they 
might  have  occupied ;  the  awful  deed  of  the  century  of 
which  we  are  writing,  consummated  at  Jerusalem  in  the 
year  of  grace  33,  was  the  crowning  sin;  henceforth  they  were 
the  people  under  the  Divine  curse.  But  the  immemorial 
blessing  was  still  theirs;  the  blessing  which  has  preserved 
them  as  a  separate  people,  powerful  even  under  circumstances 
of  the  deepest  degradation  and  oppression.  Changeless  in 
the  midst  of  change,  the  Jew  is  with  us  still.  Is  it  then  a 
baseless  dream  which  sees  for  this  strange  deathless  race  a 
glorious  future,  when  they  shall  look  on  Him  Whom  they 
pierced  as  their  Messiah,  Friend,  Redeemer,  God  ? 

But  at  no  period  in  their  long  drawn-out,  wonderful 
history  does  it  seem  that  the  Jews  exercised  a  greater  and 
more  peculiar  an  influence  than  in  the  society  of  Rome,  the 
world-capital  in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era.  The 
Jewish  Sabbath,  for  instance,  is  frequently  alluded  to  by  the 
poets  of  that  age;  curiously  enough,  this  exclusively  national 
observance  found  favour  even  in ',  certain  Pagan  circles.  Not 
a  few  among  the  higher  ranks  in  the  Roman  world  became 
in  greater  or  less  degree  converts  to  Judaism,  under  the 
general  appellation  of  "proselytes  of  the  gate."  Poppoea,  the 
powerful  mistress  of  Nero,  was  probably  one  of  them,  as  was 
Fuscus  Aristius,  the  friend  of  the  poet  Horace,  to  take  well- 
known  instances.  But  the  influence  of  the  Jews  of  Rome 
extended  far  beyond  the  circle  of  professed  proselytes.  In  a 
restless,  immoral  age  the  fervour,  the  rigid  morahty,  the 
intense  earnestness  of  the  Hebrew  colony  impressed  Roman 
society  and  gave  them  a  moral  influence  quite  disproportioned 
to  their  actual  numbers.'^ 

*  Allard :  Histoire  des  Persicutions  (Paris,  1892),  vol.  i.,  chap,  i.,  "Tout 
ce  monde  en  haillons  est  anime  d'une  vie  intense,  il  travaille,  et  cela  deja  est 
une  originalite  au  milieu  de  la  plebe  oisive  de  Rome.  II  propage  sa  religion 
par  tous  les  moyens ;  ses  mendiants  et  ses  sorcieres  ne  negligent  pas  1' occasion  de 
dire  un  mot  de  leur  loi  a  I'oreille  de  la  matrone  dont  elles  soUicitent  I'aumone. 
II  prie  et  il  etudie  ses  livres  saints  dans  Home  qui  n'a  pas  de  theologie  et  qui  ne 
prie  pas.  Ses  Synagogues  .  .  .  defendues  avec  energie  centre  les  intrusions  sent 
des  points  de  ralliement  pour  la  population  Israelite  de  chaque  quartier  .  .  . 
partout  s'y  reconnaissent  les   sentiments    d'union,   de  fraternite,  de    misericorde 


32  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

But  tlie  number  of  Jews  who  made  up  the  Roman  Jewish 
colony  was  not  inconsiderable.  About  the  middle  of  the 
first  century  they  have  been  computed  as  amounting  to 
between  twenty  and  thirty  thousand,  or  even  more.  They 
were  mostly  very  poor,  the  few  richer  members  of  the  colony 
— and  there  were  a  few,  doubtless,  very  wealthy  members — 
studiously  concealing  their  riches. 

A  modern  writer  in  a  brilliant  and  vivid  word-picture  has 
painted  the  Ghetto  or  Jewish  quarter  of  modern  Rome,  before 
the  Ghetto  was  swept  away  to  make  room  for  recent  im- 
provements. It  is  an  accurate  description  of  a  city  settle- 
ment of  the  changeless  people,  and  with  singularly  little 
alteration  would  admirably  describe  a  Jewish  quarter  in  the 
Imperial  Rome  of  the  first  century.  "  The  old  Roman 
Ghetto  was  a  low-lying  space  enclosed  within  a  circuit  of  a 
few  hundred  yards,  in  which  four  or  five  thousand  human 
beings  were  permanently  crowded  together  in  dwellings  cen- 
turies old,  built  upon  ancient  drains  and  vaults  that  were 
constantly  exposed  to  the  inundations  of  the  river  (the 
Tiber),  and  always  reeking  with  its  undried  slime ;  a  little 
pale-faced,  eager-eyed  people,  grubbing  and  grovelling  in 
masses  of  foul  rags  for  some  tiny  scrap  richer  than  the 
rest  and  worthy  to  be  sold  again ;  a  people  whose  many 
women,  haggard,  low-speaking,  dishevelled,  toiled  half-doubled 
together  upon  the  darning  and  piecing  and  smoothing  of 
old  clothes,  whose  many  little  children  huddled  themselves 
into  corners  to  teach  one  another  to  count  ;  a  people  of 
sellers  who  sold  nothing  that  was  not  old  or  damacred,  and 
who  had  nothing  that  they  would  not  sell ;  a  people 
clothed  in  rags,  living  among  rags,  thriving  on  rags,  a  people 
strangely  proof  against  pestilence,  gathering  rags  from  the 
city  to  their  dens  when  the  cholera  was  raging  outside  the 
Ghetto's  gates   and  rags  were  cheap,   yet  never   sickening   of 

d'une  communite  de  petites  gens,  ou  Ton  gagne  son  pain  a  la  sueur  de  son  front, 
ou  Ton  secourt  ses  pauvres,  ou  Ton  vit  entre  soi  loin  du  monde,  d'une  meme 
pensee  religieuse.  Telle  est  cette  etrange  population  juive,  attrayante  et  re- 
pugnante,  intrigante  et  pieuse,  riche  en  haillons  et  puissante  dans  sa  misere.  Elle 
possede  une  force  morale  inconnue  de  I'antiquite." 


FIRST   STAGES.  33 

the  plague  themselves ;  a  people  never  idle,  sleeping  little, 
eating  sparingly,  labouring  for  small  gain  amid  dirt  and 
stench  and  dampness,  till  Friday  night  came  at  last,  and 
the  old  crier's  melancholy  voice  ran  through  the  darkening 
alleys  :  '  The  Sabbath  has  begun ' — and  all  at  once  the  rags 
were  gone,  the  ghostly  old  clothes  that  swung  like  hanged 
men,  by  the  neck,  in  the  doorways  of  the  cavernous  shops 
flitted  away  into  the  utter  darkness  within;  the  old  bits  of 
iron  and  brass  went  rattling  out  of  sight  like  spectres'  chains ; 
the  hook-nosed  antiquary  drew  in  his  cracked  old  show 
case ;  the  greasy  frier  of  fish  and  artichokes  extinguished  his 
little  charcoal  fire  of  coals;  the  slipshod  darning- women,  half 
blind  with  six  days'  work,  folded  the  half-patched  coats  and 
trousers,  and  took  their  rickety  old  rush-bottomed  chairs 
indoors  with  them. 

"  Then  on  the  morrow,  in  the  rich  synagogue  with  its 
tapestries,  its  gold,  and  its  gilding,  the  thin,  dark  men  were 
together  in  their  hats  and  long  coats,  and  the  sealed  books 
of  Moses  were  borne  before  their  eyes  and  held  up  to  the 
north  and  south  and  east  and  west,  and  all  the  men  together 
lifted  up  their  arms  and  cried  aloud  to  the  God  of  theu* 
fathers. 

"  But  when  the  Sabbath  was  over  they  went  back  to  their 
rags  and  their  patched  clothes,  and  to  their  old  hon  and 
their  antiquities,  and  toiled  on  patiently  again,  looking  for 
the  comins:  of  the  Messiah. 

"  And  there  were  astrologers  and  diviners  and  magicians 
and  witches  and  crystal-gazers  among  them,  to  whom  great 
ladies  came  on  foot,  thickly  veiled,  and  walking  delicately 
amidst  the  rags,  and  men,  too,  who  were  more  ashamed  of 
themselves,  and  slunk  in  at  nightfall  to  ask  the  Jews  con- 
cerning the  future — even  in  our  time  as  in  Juvenal's,  and  in 
Juvenal's  day  as  in  Saul's  of  old."* 

Into  the  midst  of  this  busy,  active,  teeming  population  of 
Roman  Jews  fell  the  seeds  of  the  Gospel  message  at  a  very 

*  From  the   Ave  Somci  Tmmortalis  of   Marion  Crawford  (vol.  ii.  xi.),  Sant. 
Angelo,  1898. 
D 


34  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

early  date —perhaps  even  as  early  as  a.d.  33 — borne  by  some 
of  those  "  strangers  of  Rome  "  mentioned  by  the  writer  of  the 
"Acts  of  the  Apostles"  when  he  tells  the  story  of  Pentecost 
and  its  marvel,  and  particularises  the  nationality  of  the  first 
hearers  of  S.  Paul  at  Jerusalem.  These  "  strangers  of  Rome  " 
on  their  return  to  their  Italian  home  would  probably  have 
told  the  wondrous  story  they  had  heard  in  Jerusalem,  and 
so  in  the  Imperial  City  no  doubt  sprang  up  at  a  very  early 
date  in  the  Jewish  colony  a  little  band  of  men,  ever  rapidly 
increasing,  who  believed  in  the  Risen  Jesus. 

Roman  Catholic  writers  consider  that  some  ten  years  after 
the  "  first "  Pentecost  the  Jewish  Christian  Church  at  Rome 
was  visited  by  the  great  Apostle  Peter  himself,  who  after 
that  date,  roughly  given  as  a.d.  42,  resided  in  Rome  until 
A.D.  49,  in  which  year  the  Emperor  Claudius  banished  the 
Jews  from  the  city.  Peter,  of  course,  left  Rome  with  the 
rest  of  his  fellow-countrymen.  These  writers  consider  that 
the  Apostle  did  not  return  to  the  capital  before  a.d.  62,  and 
that  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  two  Apostles  met  in 
Rome  shortly  before  the  spring  of  a.d.  63,  the  date  usually 
assigned  for  the  acquittal  of  Paul  and  his  release  from  his 
long  imprisonment.  Paul  then,  according  to  their  theory, 
went  forth  again,  journeying  westwards,  resuming  his  mis- 
sionary travels,  Peter  remaining  in  Rome.  Paul  returned  to 
the  city,  it  is  generally  assumed,  in  a.d.  67,  and  in  that  year, 
or  the  following,  with  his  brother  Apostle  Peter,  suffered 
martyrdom."^ 

The  questions,  however,  of  the  duration  of  S.  Peter's 
ministry  at  Rome,  and  of  the  authenticity  of  the  earlier  visit, 
circa  a.d.  42-3,  although  of  the  deepest  interest  on  many 
accounts  to  the  student  of  early  Christian  records,  are  not  of 
vital  importance.  Of  the  highest  importance,  however,  is  the 
condition  of  the  Roman  community  at  the  epoch  of  the 
persecution  of  Nero,  which  began  in  the  middle  of  the  year 
64.     This  terrible  experience  of  the  Church  of  the  metropolis 

*  The  somewhat  vexed  question  as  to  the  presence  and  work  of  S.  Peter  at 
Eome,  and  especially  of  the  earlier  visit  of  the  Apostle  to  the  capital  of  the 
Empire  circa  a.d.  42,  is  discussed  at  some  length  in  Appendix  B. 


FIRST   STAGES.  35 

we  are  about  to  relate  with  some  detail.  It  was  no  mere 
passing  cloud  ;  its  dread  results  were  far-reaching.  It  may  be 
said  without  exaggeration  to  have  largely  determined  the 
position  of  Christians  in  the  Empire  for  a  period  roughly  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  Church  of  Rome  in 
A.D.  64  was  a  considerable  and  even  in  some  respects  an 
influential  community.  The  language  of  Tacitus,  who  was  by 
no  means  kindly  disposed  to  the  growing  sect,  is  decisive  as  to 
its  numbers.  Had  the  Christians  of  Rome  not  been  a  well- 
known  and  somewhat  influential  body,  Nero  would  never  have 
thought  it  worth  his  while  to  turn  his  attention  to  them, 
and  to  make  the  sect  his  scapegoat  in  the  matter  of  the 
great  fire,  of  which  he  was  suspected  to  have  been  the 
contriver. 

We  possess  no  definite  records  of  the  Roman  Church  of 
this  early  period.  The  salutations  of  S.  Paul  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  written  from  Corinth  circa  a.d.  58,  and  in  his 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  written  during  his  Roman  imprison- 
ment circa  a.d.  61-2,  help  us  to  form  our  conception  of  the 
community.  Besides  these  contemporary  references  to  the 
state  of  Christianity  at  Rome  in  the  years  58-62,  we  possess 
a  striking  incident  connected  with  the  year  57  related  by 
Tacitus^ — an  incident  upon  which  De  Rossi's  later  discoveries 
in  the  Catacombs  throw  considerable  light. 

What  now  do  these  references — Christian  and  Pagan — tell 
us  ?  That  the  Roman  Christian  community  was  made  up  of 
very  different  elements ;  was  of  a  composite  character ;  that 
in  it  the  majority  were  certainly  poor,  including  not  a  few 
slaves  and  freedmen  in  its  ranks;  but  that  there  were  on  its  rolls 
the  names  of  some  high-born  personages.  Yaried  nationalities 
also  were  represented  in  this  great  typical  early  Christian 
community.  The  Jew,  and  the  Pagan  by  birth  and  training, 
stood  side  by  side.  The  Greek  and  the  Oriental,  as  well  as 
the  Italian  and  the  Roman-bom,  had  each  at  some  time 
during  the  period  covered  by  the  "  Acts  of  the  Apostles " 
received  from  the  lips  of  a  Peter  or  Paul  or  John,  or  perhaps 

*  See  pp.  37,  38. 


36  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

had  heard  and  welcomed  through  the  medium  of  an  Evangehst 
unknown  to  fame,  the  message  of  Kfe. 

When  Paul  wrote  to  the  Roman  Christians  from  Corinth 
in  A.D.  58,  although  he  had  never  been  at  Rome,  he  evidently 
knew  well  many  of  the  members  of  its  community.  The  long 
list  of  salutations  addressed  to  individuals  of  various  nation- 
alities and  to  persons  of  different  ranks  tells  us  this  ;  while 
households  even  are  included  in  these  greetings  of  the 
"  travelled "  Apostle.  The  references  in  his  epistle  written 
from  Rome  to  the  Philippians  circa  a.d.  61-2  are  even  more 
suggestive,  especially  the  well-loiown  greeting  from  "the 
members  of  Csesar's  household"  (Phil.  iv.  22).  The  "domus 
Caesaris,"  "  domus  Augusta "  (the  household  of  Caesar)  who 
sent  their  salutations  to  Philippi  were  presumably  earlier 
converts  who  did  not  owe  their  knowledge  of  Christ  to 
S.  Paul's  teaching  at  Rome.  The  "household  of  Csesar "  in 
the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era  occupied  a  large  and 
conspicuous  place  in  the  life  of  Rome.  It  included  persons 
of  exalted  rank  and  of  the  highest  consideration,  as  well  as 
a  great  crowd  of  slaves  and  freedmen.  The  most  elaborately 
organised  of  modern  Toysd  establishments  would  give  only  a 
faint  idea  of  the  multiplicity  and  variety  of  the  offices  in 
the  palace  of  the  C^sars.  The  departments  in  the  household 
were  divided  and  sub-divided,  the  offices  were  numberless. 
The  "  tasters,"  for  instance,  constituted  a  separate  class  of 
servants  under  their  own  chief;  even  the  pet  dog  had  a 
functionary  assigned  to  him.  The  aggregate  of  Imperial  re- 
sidences on  or  near  the  Palatine  formed  a  small  city  in  itself ; 
but  these  were  not  the  only  palaces  even  in  Rome.  More- 
over, the  country  houses  and  estates  of  the  Imperial  family 
all  contributed  to  swell  the  numbers  of  the  "  domus  Augusta." 

But  besides  the  household  m  its  more  restricted  sense, 
the  Emperor  had  in  his  employ  a  countless  number  of 
officials,  clerks,  and  servants  of  every  degree  required  for  the 
work  of  the  several  departments,  civil  and  military,  which 
were   all   concentrated   in  him   as   head   of  the   State.*     And 

*  Bishop  Lightfoot :  Clement  of  Eonic,  vol.  i.,  pp.  25-6,  and  Ep.  to  Fhil., 
pp.   167-70. 


0  -. 

UJ  o 

1  ?, 
H  = 

O  5 


FIRST  STAGES.  37 

this  vast  "  household  of  Csesar "  was  made  up  of  all  nation- 
alities as  well  as  being  composed  of  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men.  There  were  Romans,  of  course,  among  them,  and 
Italians  by  birth,  but  perhaps  the  greater  number  were 
Greeks,  Egyptians,  and  Orientals,  including  a  fair  proportion 
of  Jews. 

It  was  into  this  great  Imperial  household  that  Christianity 
at  a  very  early  date  penetrated.  It  was  from  some  among 
this  mighty  mixed  house  of  Csesar  that  the  greetings  contained 
in  the  Philippian  Epistle  were  sent  by  Paul  But  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  "  Faith "  which  was  livinsr  amoncf 
them  was  a  power — how  real,  events  soon  showed — before 
the  great  Gentile  Apostle  had  arrived  m  Rome  as  a  closely 
guarded  prisoner. 

It  is  no  baseless  thought  that  the  presence,  the  long 
continued  presence,  according  to  the  immemorial  tradition, 
of  such  a  one  as  Peter  had  helped  to  fan  the  flame  of 
devotion  which  Paul  found  burning  so  brightly  when,  as  a 
prisoner,  he  was  lodged  in  or  near  the  great  Praetorian  barracks 
or  camp  outside  the  wall  to  the  north-east  of  the  city,  hard 
by  the  modem  Via  Nomentana."^ 

Thus  the  synagogues  of  the  thirty  or  more  thousandf  of 
the  Jewish  residents  in  Rome,  the  vast  mixed  multitude  of 
the  dwellers  in  the  metropolis  of  the  world,  including  the 
"household  of  Csesar,"  supplied  their  quota  to  the  ever- 
growing company  of  adherents  to  the  new  faith. 

But  besides  these  were  some — few  perhaps,  but  still  enough 
to  give  a  powerful  influence  to  the  strange  community — out 
of  the  mighty  and  exclusive  Patrician  order  who  had  no 
special  connection  with  the  "  house  of  Ctesar."  There  is  a 
well-knoAvn  story  in  Tacitus  J  of  a  great  lady — one  Pomponia 
Grsecina,   the   wife   of  Plautus,    the    general     who     conquered 

*  The  site  of  the  Prtetorian  barrack  or  camp  is  well  known  to  the  modem 
English  traveller.  It  is  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  Porta  Pia  and  the  present 
English  Embassy,     (a.d.  1901.) 

t  Many  more  probably,  when  the  adherents  and  less  strict  converts  of  the 
Jews  are  taken  into  account,  such  as  Proselytes  of  the  Gate.  These  were  very 
numerous  in  the  Piome  of  the  first  century. 

XAnn.,  xiii.  32.  . 


38  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Britain  under  tlie  Emperor  Claudius.  In  tlie  year  58 
Pomponia  was  accused  of  having  embraced  a  "foreign  super- 
stition." The  matter  was  referred,  in  accordance  with  Roman 
custom,  to  a  Domestic  Court,  in  which  her  husband  sat  as 
chief  judge.  The  noble  lady  was  adjudged  innocent.  She 
lived  afterwards,  we  read,  to  a  great  age,  but  in  continuous 
sadness.  No  one,  however,  interfered  with  her  any  more, 
protected  as  she  was  by  her  stainless  character  and  exalted 
rank.  For  a  long  while  the  strange  superstition  in  which 
this  eminent  person  was  accused  of  sharing  was  supposed 
by  many  students  to  have  been  "  Christianity,"  but  later 
discoveries  have  converted  the  supposition  into  what  is  almost 
a  certainty.  In  the  course  of  his  exhaustive  investigations 
into  the  network  of  subterranean  corridors  devoted  to  the 
burial  of  the  dead  Christians  around  the  Catacomb  of 
Callistus,  De  Rossi  has  shown  that  the  oldest  portion  of 
that  vast  cemetery  on  the  Appian  Way,  known  as  the 
Cemetery  of  Lucina,  belongs  to  the  first  century.  In  this 
ancient  burial  place  a  sepulchral  inscription  belonging  to 
the  close  of  the  second  century  has  been  found  with  the 
name  "  Pomponius  Graicinus  "  ;  other  neighbouring  monuments 
bear  the  names  of  the  same  Pomponian  House.  It  is  clear 
from  the  character  of  the  decorations  of  the  sepulchral 
chambers  that  the  crypt  was  constructed  in  the  Hrst  instance 
by  some  Christian  lady  of  high  rank  before  the  close  of  the 
first  century  for  her  poorer  brother  and  sister  Christians."^ 
De  Rossi  considers  that  the  name  "  Lucina,"  which  belongs 
to  this  division  of  the  Catacomb  of  Callistus,  is  only  another 
name  of  Pomponia  Grsecina  herself ;  the  name  "  Lucina "  not 
being  found  in  Roman  history,  the  famous  archaeologist 
considers  it  highly  probable  that  it  was  assumed  by  Pomponia 
Greecina  in  accordance  with  early  Christian  phraseology,  which 
spoke  of  baptism  as  an  "enlightening"  ((^wncr/xo?) .  Be  this 
how  it  may,  the  strange  discovery  of  the  connection   of  the 

"•'  This  pious  custom  was  a  common  practice  in  the  Christian  communion 
of  the  first  and  second  centuries,  and  to  it  the  beyinnings  of  the  enormous  net- 
work of  Christian  cemeteries  or  catacombs  beneath  the  suburbs  of  old  Eome 
must  be  attributed.  'Jhis  is  explained  in  detail  in  the  chapter  which  is  devoted 
to  the  Catacombs  (jx  267). 


FIEST   STAGES.  39 

Pomponian  family  with  the  ancient  cemetery  is  a  strong 
confirmation  of  the  surmise  long  entertained  by  scholars, 
that  Pomponia  was  a  Christian. 

No  doubt  she  was  an  example  of  other  persons  of  high 
rank  who  had  accepted  the  easy  yoke  and  light  burden  of 
Christ  in  that  age  of  inquiry  and  fervent  longings  after  the 
nobler  and  better  life.  Only  a  few  years  later,  as  we  shall 
see,  history  tells  us  of  yet  nobler  converts.  For  before  that 
first  century  had  run  its  course,  the  religion  of  Jesus  had 
found  its  way  into  the  family  of  the  Cassars.  The  "  Atheism  " 
for  which  the  Emperor  Domitian's  cousin,  Flavius  Clemens, 
suffered  death  in  a.d.  95,  and  for  which  his  wife  Domitilla 
was  banished,  was  doubtless  only  a  name  for  Christianity. 

Such  were  the  materials  out  of  which  the  Roman  com- 
munity of  Christians  was  composed.  With  the  exception  of 
the  faithful  who  came  from  the  "  household  of  Csesar,"  the 
same  elements  made  up  the  commimities  of  the  Church  of 
the  first  days  in  those  other  important  centres  we  hear  of  in 
the  "  Acts,"  Corinth,  Ephesus,  Antioch,  and  other  less  populous 
cities,  such  as  Philippi,  Thessalonica,  Colosse.  But  the  com- 
munit}''  of  Rome  in  the  year  62-3  was  undoubtedly  the  largest 
and  most  influential.  There  the  two  Apostles  who,  during 
the  thirty  years  which  followed  the  Ascension  and  the  miracle 
of  Pentecost,  occupy  unquestionably  the  first  place  in  the 
story  of  the  Church,  for  a  considerable  time  had  resided  and 
had  taught.  There  Christianity  had  evidently  made  a  firm 
lodgment,  and  counted  its  adherents   probably   by   thousands. 

Apart  from  the  hostility  of  some  of  the  Jews,  who,  as  we 
have  said,  had  in  the  capital  a  large  and  powerful  colony 
numbering  at  least  some  thirty  thousand — probably  many 
more — the  Christian  sect  practised  its  simple  rites,  and  quietly 
nuiltiplied  its  converts  without  opposition.  The  Imperial 
Government,  while  quite  aware  of  their  existence,  chose  to 
regard  them  as  a  Jewish  sect,  and  the  Jewish  reHgion  was 
at  the  time,  we  know,  legally  recognised  by  the  Roman 
power. 


40 


CHAPTER  11. 

NERO, 
SECTION   I. — THE   PERSECUTION   OF   NERO. 

At  this  time,  a.d.  62-3,  the  reigning  Emperor  was  the  in- 
famous Nero,  one  of  the  strangest  and  most  incomprehensible 
tyrants  who  has  ever  occupied  a  perfectly  irresponsible  position 
of  well  nigh  boundless  authority.  The  pitiful  historian,  in 
attempting  the  impossible  task  of  explaining  the  growth  and 
development  of  the  character  of  this  inhuman  master  of  the 
world,  dAvells  on  the  foolish  partiality  of  his  evil  mother, 
who  through  a  series  of  bloody  intrigues  gained  at  last  the 
Imperial  purple  for  her  beautiful  boy."^ 

This  mother,  Agi'ippina,  is  painted  by  Tacitus  in  the 
darkest  colours,  as  a  woman  of  daring  schemes,  of  reckless 
cruelty,  a  princess  who  suffered  no  scruple  ever  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  her  merciless  and  shameless  intrigues.  Nero  was 
but  seventeen  years  old  when,  thanks  to  her  successful  plot- 
tingf,  he  became  the  uncontrolled  master  of  the  world.  Bent 
on  selfish  pleasure,  he  regarded  his  mighty  empire  as  existing 
only  to  supply  material  for  his  evil  passions.  As  years  j)assed 
he  grew  more  cruel,  more  vain.  In  the  gratification  of  his 
passions  and  lusts  he  spared  none;  his  mother,  his  wife,  his 
intimate  friends  and  companions,  some  of  them  the  noblest 
by  birth  and  fortune  of  the  Roman  patricians,  were  all  in 
turn  murdered  by  his  orders.  To  his  disordered  fancy,  the 
circus,  with  its    games — games,  many   of  them   of  the    most 

*  The  early  busts  of  Nero  show  how  different  he  was  before  vice  and  in- 
dulgence changed  his  beautiful  features  into  the  heavy,  lowering  face  of  the  later 
portraits  with  which  we  are  now  familiar. 


NEBO.  41 

degraded  character,  cruel,  bloody,  pandering  to  the  lowest 
passions  of  the  people — were  the  centre  of  Roman  Ufe.  The 
whole  world  he  looked  on  as  only  existing  to  minister  to  the 
evil  pleasures  of  Rome.  For  several  years  he  was  adored  by 
the  mixed  crowds  of  various  nationalities  which  composed  the 
people  of  the  Queen  City ;  these  irresponsible  masses  rejoiced 
in  the  wicked  t}Tant  who  from  day  to  day  amused  them  by 
the  strange  and  wonderful  spectacles  of  the  circus  and  the 
amphitheatre.  The  populace  loved  him,  the  soldiers  of  the 
all-powerful  Praatorian  guard,  whom  he  flattered,  bribed,  and 
cajoled,  for  a  long  period  supported  and  upheld  him.  For 
his  treachery,  cruelty,  and  faithlessness  affected  the  mercenary 
soldiers  and  the  populace  but  little.  It  was  only  the  great, 
the  rich,  the  noble  who  trembled  for  their  lives.  The  irre- 
sponsible mass  of  the  people,  the  hireling  Prsetorian  guards, 
delighted  in  a  master  who  made  their  hves  a  perpetual  holiday, 
who  amused  them  with  spectacles  that  in  the  world  had  never 
been  matched  before,  so  brilliant,  so  attractive,  but  of  a  char- 
acter calculated  only  to  debase  and  to  lower  the  ignorant 
crowds  who  thronged  the  vast  theatres  where  the  marvellous 
and  awful  games  were  played.  Often  as  many  as  fifty  thou- 
sand, or  even  more,  of  this  degraded  populace  would  assemble 
in  one  of  the  great  circus  buildings  to  look,  hour  after  hour, 
on  scenes  where  cruelty,  obscenity,  and  vice  were  ideahsed; 
at  times  the  lord  of  the  Romans  deigned  to  join  in  the  shameful 
sports,  as  charioteer,  as  singer,  as  buffoon,  and  would  receive 
■with  gratification  the  noisy  and  tumultuous  applause  of  the 
delighted  thousands  who  hailed  him  as  Emperor,  and  even 
worshipped  him  as  divine. 

Under  Nero  the  whole  tone  of  Roman  society,  from  its 
apex  down  to  the  lowest  ranks,  was  corrupted.  The  terms 
honour,  truth,  loyalty,  purity,  patriotism  lost  their  significa- 
tion. It  was  the  glorification  of  shame  and  dishonour.  It 
was  only  in  the  last  years  of  his  wicked  reign,  when  the 
enormous  power  of  the  Praetorian  Prsefecture  was  entrusted 
to  Tigellinus,  one  of  the  wickedest  of  the  human  race — after 
mother,  wife,  and  well  nigh  all  his  friends  had  been  mur- 
dered ;   when   the   vast   treasures  of  the   Imperial   family  had 


42  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

been  heedlessly  squandered,  and  darker  and  ever  darker  expe- 
dients to  replenish  an  exhausted  exchequer  were  resorted 
to ; — that  the  cup  of  wickedness  of  the  Emperor  Nero  was 
tilled,  the  legions  of  the  provinces  revolted,  and  the  tyrant 
found  himself,  even  in  the  Rome  which  he  had  so  basely 
flattered  and  corrupted,  without  a  friend.  Then  the  end 
came,  and  Nero  escaped  the  penalty  of  his  nameless  crimes 
by  self-murder;  but  even  the  supreme  hour  of  the  infamous 
Emperor  was  marred  by  cowardice  and  unmanly  fear.'^ 

It  was  in  the  July  of  the  year  64,  a  memorable  date 
never  forgotten,  that  the  terrible  fire  broke  out  which 
reduced  more  than  half  of  Rome  to  ashes;  it  began  among 
the  shops  filled  with  wares,  which  easily  fell  a  prey  to  the 
flames,  located  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the 
great  circus  hard  by  the  Palatine  Hill.  For  six  days  and 
seven  nights  the  fire  raged ;  whole  districts  filled  with  the 
wooden  houses  of  the  poorer  inhabitants  of  the  city  were 
swept  away;  but  besides  these,  numberless  palaces  and 
important  buildings  were  consumed. 

Of  the  fourteen  regions  of  Old  Rome,  four  only  remained 
uninjured  by  the  flames.  Three  were  utterly  destroyed, 
while  the  other  seven  were  filled  with  wTeckage,  with  the 
blackened  walls  of  houses  which  had  been  burnt;  but  the 
irreparable  loss  to  the  Roman  people  after  all  was  the  utter 
destruction  of  those  more  precious  monuments  of  their  past 
glorious  history,  on  which  every  true  Roman  was  accus- 
tomed  to   gaze   with   patriotic   veneration.      The  cruel  flames 

*  Renan  in  his  Antichrist  (chap,  vi.)  gives  a  vivid  epigrammatic  description 
of  Nero:  "  Qu'on  se  figure  un  melange  de  lou,  de  jocrisse  et  d'acteur,  revetu  de 
la  toute  puissance,  et  charge  de  gouverner  le  monde.  II  n'avait  pas  la  noire 
mechancete  de  Domitian,  ce  n'etait  pas  non  plus  un  extravagant  comma  Caligule  ; 
c'etait  .  .  .  un  Empereur  d' opera,  un  melomane  tremblant  devant  le  parterre  et  le 
faisant  tremhler  .  .  .  ces  ridicules  parurent  d'abord  chez  Neron  assez  inoiiensifs,  le 
singe  s'observa  quelque  temps,  et  garda  la  pose  qu'on  lui  avait  apprise :  la 
cruaute  ne  se  declara  chez  lui  qu'appres  la  mort  d'Agrippine,  elle  I'envahit  bien 
vite  toute  entier.  Chaque  aunee  niaintenant  est  marquee  par  ses  crimes  .  .  . 
Neron  proclame  chaque  jour  que  toute  vertu  est  un  mensonge,  que  le  galant 
homme  est  celui  qui  est  franc,  et  qui  avoue  sa  complete  impudeur,  que  le 
galant  homme  est  celui  qui  salt  abuser  de  tout,  tout  perdre,  tout  depenser.  Un 
homme  vertueux  est  pour  lui  un  hypocrite  .  .  .  ce  I'ut  un  monstre." 


NERO.  43 

spared  few  indeed  of  these.  When  the  fire  gradually,  after 
the  dread  week,  died  away,  only  blackened,  shapeless  rums 
stood  on  the  immemorial  sites  of  the  Temple  of  Luna,  the 
work  of  Servius  Tullius,  the  Ara  Maxima,  which  the  Arcadian 
Evander  had  raised  in  honour  of  Hercules,  the  ancient  Temple 
of  Jupiter  Stator,  originally  built  after  the  vow  of  Romulus ; 
the  little  royal  home  of  Numa  Pompilius,  the  houses  of 
the  ancient  captains  and  generals,  adorned  with  the  spoils 
of  conquered  peoples,  indeed  well  nigh  all  that  the  reverent 
love  of  the  great  people  held  dear  and  precious,  had  dis- 
appeared in  this  awful  calamity.  Such  a  loss  was  simply 
irreparable.  Rome  might  be  rebuilt  on  a  grand  scale, 
but  the  old  Rome  of  the  kings  and  the  Republic  was  gone 
for  ever. 

The  darkest  suspicions  were  entertained  as  to  the  mys- 
terious origin  of  this  overwhelming  calamity.  Men's  thoughts 
naturally  were  turned  to  the  half  msane  master  of  the  Roman 
world ;  was  he  not  the  author  of  the  tremendous  fire  ?  It 
was  known  that  he  had  for  a  long  time  viewed  with  dislike 
the  tortuous,  narrow  streets,  the  piles  of  squahd,  ancient 
buildings  which  formed  so  large  a  portion  of  the  metropolis 
of  the  Empire ;  that  he  had  formed  plans  of  a  great  recon- 
struction, on  a  vastly  enlarged  scale,  of  the  mighty  capital ; 
that  he  had  dreamed  of  the  new,  enormous  palace  surrounded 
by  immense  gardens  and  pleasaunces,  which  soon  arose  under 
the  historic  name  of  "Nero's  Golden  House."  Had  not  the 
evil  dreamer,  who  exercised  such  irresponsible  power  in  the 
Roman  world,  chosen  this  method,  sudden,  sharp,  and  swift, 
of  clearing  away  old  Rome,  and  thus  making  room  for 
the  carrying  out  of  his  grandiose  conceptions  of  the  new 
capital  of  the  world  ?  The  truth  of  this  will  never  be 
known.  Serious  historians  chronicle  the  suspicions  which  filled 
men's  minds;  they  tell  us  how  the  marvellous  popularity 
which  the  wicked  Emperor  had  hitherto  enjoyed  among  the 
masses  of  the  people  was  gravely  shaken  by  the  tremendous 
calamity  of  which  he  was  more  than  suspected  to  have  been 
the  author.  All  kinds  of  sinister  rumours  were  in  the  air; 
it  was  said    no    strinofent    and    effective    measures   had  been 


44  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

adopted  by  the  Government  to  stay  the  progress  of  the 
flames.  Men  even  said  that  the  Emperor's  slaves  had  been 
detected  with  torches  and  inflammable  material  helping  to 
spread  the  fire.  The  only  plea  that  the  friends  of  Nero  were 
able  to  advance  when  that  dark  accusation  gathered  strength 
and  force  was  that  when  the  fire  broke  out  the  Emperor 
was  at  Antium,  far  away  from  Kome,  and  that  he  only 
arrived  on  the  scene  of  desolation  on  the  third  day  of  the 
great  fire. 

At  all  events,  when  all  was  over  Nero  found  himself 
generally  suspected  as  the  author  of  the  tremendous  national 
calamity.  It  was  in  vain  that  he  provided  temporary  dwellings 
for  the  tens  of  thousands  of  the  homeless  and  ruined  poor : 
that  he  threw  open  the  Campus  Martius  and  even  his  own 
vast  gardens  for  them,  erecting  temporary  shelter  for  them  to 
lodge  in,  supplying  these  homeless  ones  at  a  nominal  cost 
with  food.  All  these  measures  were  of  no  avail — the  Emperor, 
so  lately  the  idol  of  the  masses,  as  we  have  said,  found  himself 
at  once  unpopular,  even  hated,  as  the  contriver  of  the  awful 
crime. 

It  was  then  that  the  dark  mind  of  Nero  conceived  the 
idea  of  diverting  the  suspicions  of  the  people  from  himself, 
and  of  throwing  the  burden  of  the  crime  upon  others  who 
would  be  powerless  to  defend  themselves.  His  police  pre- 
tended that  they  had  discovered  that  the  Christian  sect  had 
fired  Rome. 

What  now  were  his  reasons  for  fixing  upon  this  harm- 
less, innocent,  comparatively  speaking  little  known  group  of 
Christians  as  his  scapegoat  ?  What  induced  the  bloody,  half- 
insane  tyrant  to  choose  out  the  poor  Christian  community 
for  hiSj  shameful,  cowardly  purpose,  and  to  accuse  such  a 
loyal,  quiet,  peace-loving  company  of  the  awful  crime  which 
had  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  more  than  half  the 
metropolis  of  the  world  ?  What  had  they  done  to  excite  his 
wrath  ?  Never  a  word  had  been  uttered  by  the  leaders  of 
the  Christian  sect  which  could  be  construed  into  treason 
against  himself  or  even  into  discontent  with  the  Imperial 
Government.     For  the  Christian  sect  all  through  the  ages  of 


NERO. 

From  a  Bust  found  at  Athens,  now  in  tlie  British  Museum. 


NEBO.  45 

persecution  were  not  only  a  peace-loving  body  —  they 
remained  ever  among  the  most  loyal  subjects  of  the  Pagan 
Emperor  Avho  proscribed  the  religion  they  loved  better  than 
life,  and  who  allowed  them  to  be  done  to  death  unless  they 
chose  to  purchase  life  by  denying  the  "  Name  "  they  believed 
in  with  so  intense  a  faith.  From  the  days  of  Nero  in  the 
'sixties  to  the  days  of  Diocletian,  when  the  sands  of  the  third 
century  were  fast  running  out,  the  loyalty  of  the  Christians 
was  never  called  in  question.  In  their  ranks  no  conspirator 
against  the  laws  and  Government  of  the  Empire  was  ever 
known  to  exist. 

It  was  so  from  the  first.  In  what  we  may  term  the  State 
papers,  which  contain  undoubtedly  the  official  pronouncements 
of  the  honoured  chiefs  of  the  earliest  Christian  communities — 
Peter,  .Paul,  and  John — we  find  the  most  solemn  charges  to 
the  beUevers  under  all  circumstances  to  maintain  a  strict, 
unswerving  loyalty  to  the  Ciesar,  and  to  the  Eoman  Govern- 
ment of  which  the  Caesar  was  the  representative.  The  charges 
are  even  peremptory  in  their  directness.  So  Paul  wrote  to 
the  brethren  at  Kome  from  Corinth  in  the  year  58  : 

"Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher  powers  .  .  .  the  powers 
that  be  are  ordained  of  God.  Whosoever  therefore  resisteth  the  power 
resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God,  and  they  that  resist  shall  receive  to 
themselves  damnation.  For  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but 
to  the  evil  ...  He  beareth  not  the  sword  in  vain,  for  he  is  the 
minister  of  God,  a  revenger  to  execute  wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil. 
Wherefor  ye  must  needs  be  subject  .  .  .  also  for  conscience'  sake  .  .  . 
Render  therefore  to  all  their  dues,  tribute  to  whom  tribute  is  due ;  fear 
to  whom  fear ;  honour  to  whom  honour." — Romans  xiii.  1-7. 

In  truth  a  very  noble  definition  of  authority,  a  sublime  ideal 
of  loyalty,  was  thus  set  before  the  little  congregations  of  the 
rising  sect.  So  Peter,  too,  in  his  first  epistle — an  epistle 
received  with  respect  and  reverence  in  all  the  Churches  as  an 
inspired  pronouncement  from  the  very  beginning — writing  from 
Rome,  under  the  shadow  of  that  fearful  persecution  we  are 
going  to  relate  in  detail,  repeats  with  even  greater  emphasis 
his  brother  Paul's  directions : 

"  Dearly  beloved  .  .  .  submit  yourselves  to  every  ordinance  of  man 
for  the  Lord's  sake,    whether  it   be  to  the  king  as  supreme,  or  unto 


46  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

governors  as  unto  them  that  are  sent  by  him  for  the  punishment  of 
evil  doers,  and  for  the  praise  of  them  that  do  well  :  for  so  is  the  will 
of  God,  that  with  well-doing  ye  may  put  to  silence  the  ignorance  of 
foolish  men  ;  as  free,  but  not  using  your  liberty  for  a  cloke  of  malicious- 
ness, but  as  the  servants  of  God.  Honour  all  men.  Love  the  brotherhood. 
Fear  God.     Honour  the  king."— 1  ,S'.  Peter  ii.  13-17. 

What  Paul  wrote  in  a  period  of  comparative  quietness  in 
A.D.  58,  Peter  repeats  a  few  years  later,  circa  a.d.  65-6,  in  the 
days  of  one  of  the  most  cruel  persecutions  that  perhaps  ever 
weighed  upon  the  Church ;  while  John,  who,  after  Peter  and 
Paul  had  passed  away,  somewhere  about  a.d.  67-8,  was  regarded 
by  the  Church  as  its  most  honoured  and  influential  leader, 
in  his  Gospel — probably  put  out  in  the  latter  years  of  the 
first  century — when  giving  the  account  of  the  trial  of  Jesus 
Christ  before  Pilate,  quotes  one  of  the  sayings  of  his  Master 
addressed  to  the  Roman  magistrate ;  in  which  the  Lord  clearly 
states  that  the  power  of  the  Imperial  ruler  was  given  him 
from  above — that  is,  from  God  (S.  John  xix.  11);  thus 
emphasising,  some  quarter  of  a  century  later,  the  words  and 
charges  of  Peter  and  Paul,  ordering  the  Christian  communities 
to  be  loyal  and  obedient  to  the  constituted  powers  of  the 
State,  and  to  the  Sovereign  who  wielded  this  authority  as  the 
chief  officer  of  the  State,  because  such  powers  were  given 
"from  above." 

This  spirit  of  unswerving  obedience  and  perfect  loyalty 
which  we  find  in  the  official  writings  of  Peter,  Paul,  and 
John,  lived  in  the  Church  all  through  the  three  centuries 
of  the  oppression.  It  was  ever  its  guiding  principle  of  action 
in  all  its  relations  with  the  Empire. 

Thus  we  come  again  to  the  question :  What  then  pro- 
voked the  first  cruel  persecution  ?  What  determined  Nero 
to  proscribe  so  loyal  and  harmless  a  sect  ?  It  has  been 
suggested,  nor  is  the  suggestion  by  any  means  baseless,  that 
the  proscription  of  the  Christians  by  the  Emperor  was  in 
consequence  of  a  dark  accusation  thrown  out  by  the  Jews. 
Not  improbably  the  first  idea  of  Nero  and  his  advisers  was 
to  fasten  the  crime  upon  the  Jews  themselves.  Their  loyalty 
to   the   State   was   ever   questionable.      The   condition   of  the 


NEBO.  47 

Hebrew  mother-country  was  just  then  restless  and  uneasy. 
The  threatenings  of  the  great  revolt,  which  culminated  in 
the  Jewish  war  and  destruction  of  Jerusalem  in  a.d.  70,  were 
already  plainly  manifest.  It  is  indeed  highly  probable  that 
to  avert  the  suspicion  of  many  a  Eoman  who  too  readily 
looked  on  the  Jewish  colony  as  the  authors  of  the  great 
calamity,  the  Jews  themselves  suggested  to  the  Emperor 
that  in  the  hated  Christian  sect  he  would  find  the  true 
authors  of  the  fire  of  Rome.  Nor  were  the  Jews  without 
friends  at  Court,  who  were  able  and  willing  to  press  home 
the  false  and  evil  accusation.  Poppsea,  the  beautiful  Empress, 
at  that  time  high  in  the  favour  of  Nero,  who  had  taken 
her  from  her  husband,  was  deeply  interested  in  the  Hebrew 
religion ;  some  even  think  she  had  absolutely  joined  the 
ranks  of  the  chosen  people  and  had  become  a  "Proselyte 
of  the  Gate."  Other  friends,  too,  of  the  Jews,  besides  the 
profligate  Empress,  were  in  the  inner  circle  of  Nero. 

But  still  the  historian  of  Christianity  is  loth  to  charge 
the  Jews  with  this  crime  of  a  false  accusation,  which  led 
in  the  case  of  the  Christians  to  such  fearful  consequences. 
It  is  possible,  certainly,  that  other  reasons  may  have  induced 
Nero  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  the  followers  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  In  the  year  64  it  is  clear  that  they  were  no 
secret  or  inconsiderable  community,  and  it  is  likely  that 
they  were  already  looked  upon  by  many  of  the  superstitious 
and  jealous  Romans  -udth  dislike  and  even  with  hatred. 
Christianity  was  beginning  to  make  rapid  progress.  Its 
votaries,  while  loyal  to  the  State  and  the  magistrates,  made 
no  secret  of  their  dislike  and  contempt  for  the  Deities  whose 
shrines  were  the  object  of  such  intense  veneration.  These 
considerations  would  at  least  susrsrest  to  Nero  that  in  this 
sect  he  would  easily  find  an  object  of  popular  hatred. 

The  Imperial  order  went  forth.  It  was  about  the  middle 
of  the  year  64.  The  first  martyrology  of  the  Church  was 
written  by  no  fervid  Christian,  by  no  ecclesiastical  historian 
living  years  after  the  dread  events  happened  of  which  he 
was  the  perhaps  partial  chronicler ;  it  was  compiled  by  no 
admirer  of  martyrdom,  too  anxious  it  may  be  to  draw  a  great 


48  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

lesson,  and  to  point  to  a  noble  example  of  faith  and  fortitude. 
The  teller  of  the  story  of  the  martyrs  of  Nero  was  a  Koman, 
a  Pagan,  a  scholarly  and  eloquent  admirer  of  Rome  and  of 
her  immemorial  traditions ;  and  withal  one  who  lived  only 
a  little  more  than  half  a  century  after  the  date  at  which 
the  memorable  events  he  related  took  place.  No  one 
certainly  can  suspect  the  Pagan  historian  Tacitus  of  exaggera- 
tion. He  tells  the  story  with  his  usual  cold  brilliancy  of 
style ;  but  no  one  can  charge  him  with  undue  partiality 
for  the  sufferers  whose  fate  he  so  graphically  depicts.  In 
his  eyes  the  hapless  victims  deserved  the  severest  punish- 
ment, though  even  for  them,  guilty  though  they  were,  the 
punishment  meted  out  was  perhaps  too  cruel,  the  sufferings 
excessive.  They  excited  pity,  Tacitus  tells  us ;  the  horrors 
which  accompanied  their  punishment  gave  rise  to  a  suspicion 
that  this  sfreat  multitude  of  condemned  ones  who  died  thus 
were  rather  the  victims  of  the  cruelty  of  an  individual 
(Nero)  than  merely  ordinary  offenders  against  the  State.''^ 

The  result  of  Nero's  proscription  was  the  immediate  arrest 
of  many  prominent  and  well-known  members  of  the  Christian 
community.  These,  Tacitus  says,  confessed ;  but  their  con- 
fession was  evidently  not  their  share  in  the  burning  of  Rome, 
not  that  they  had  been  incendiaries,  but  simply  that  they 
were  Christians;  for  the  huge  multitude  of  Christians  (ingens 
multitudo)  who,  as  the  investigation  of  the  Government 
broadened  out,  were  subsequently  arrested,  were  presently 
convicted  on  the  general  charge,  not  of  firing  the  great  city, 
but  simply  of  "hatred  against  mankind." f  The  procedure 
seems  to  have  been  terribly  simple.  Nero,  intensely  anxious 
to  divert  from  himself  the  indignation  which  it  was  evident 
had  been  universally  aroused  against  him  as  the  author  of 
the  conflagration  which  had  destroyed  a  great  part  of  Rome, 
and  particularly  its  cherished  monuments  of  the  past,  used  for 
his  purpose  the  popular  dislike  of  the  new  sect  of  Christians. 

*  "  Unde  quanquam  adversus  sontes  et  novissima  exempla  meritos  miseratio 
orietatur,  tanquam  non  utilitate  publica  sed  in  SEevitiam  unius  absumerentur. " 
— Tacitus  :   Ann.,  xv.   44. 

t  "  Odio  humani  generis  convicti  sunt." — Tacitus  :  Ann.,  xv.  44. 


NEBO.  <  49 

Many  were  sought  out.  They  were  well  known  and  easily 
found.  They  at  once  confessed  that  they  were  Christians. 
Then  on  the  information  elicited  at  their  trial,  perhaps 
too  on  the  evidence  of  writings  and  papers  seized  in  their 
houses,  many  more  were  involved  in  their  fate.  All  pretence 
of  their  connection  with  the  late  tremendous  fire  was  probably 
soon  abandoned,  and  they  were  condemned  simpl}^  on  their 
confession  that  they  were  Christians.  Their  punishment  was 
turned  into  an  amusement  to  divert  the  general  populace, 
and  thus  Nero  thought  he  would  regain  some  of  his  lost 
popularity.  His  fiendish  desire  no  doubt  was  partly  success- 
ful. For  the  games  were  on  a  stupendous  scale,  and  were 
accompanied  by  scenes  hitherto  unknown  even  to  the  plea- 
sure-loving crowd  accustomed  to  applaud  these  cruel  and 
degrading  spectacles. 

The  scene  of  this  theatrical  massacre  was  the  Imperial 
garden  on  the  other  side  of  the  Tiber,  on  the  Vatican  Hill. 
The  spot  is  well  known,  and  is  now  occupied  by  the  mighty 
pile  of  St.  Peter's,  the  Vatican  Palace,  and  the  great  square 
immediately  in  front  of  the  chief  Church  of  Christendom  and 
the  vast  palace  of  the  Popes. 

Whether  the  awful  and  bloody  drama  in  the  Vatican 
Gardens  lasted  more  than  one  day  is  not  made  certain  by 
the  brief  though  graphic  picture  of  Tacitus.^  Enormous 
destruction  of  human  life,  we  know  from  other  "  amphi- 
theatre" recitals,  could  be  compassed  in  a  long  day's  pro- 
ceedings, especially  under  an  Emperor  like  Nero,  who  had 
all  the  resources  of  the  Roman  world  at  his  disposition. 

If  the  Avhole  were  comprised,  as  seems  probable,  in  one 
day's  long  performance,  it  is  clear  that  the  hideous  games 
were  prolonged  far  into  night.  It  began  with  a  long  and 
pathetic  procession    of  the   condemned,  made   up   of  all  ages 

*  Suetonius,  a  contemporary  of  Tacitus,  gives  too  a  brief  account  of  the  great 
persecution  ;  Clement  of  Eome,  end  of  Cent.  I.,  Tertullian,  end  of  Cent.  II., 
among  other  Christian  writers,  refer  to  it ;  but  by  far  the  most  graphic  picture 
of  the  awful  sufferings  of  the  Christians  at  Eome  in  the  Neronic  persecution  is 
that  painted  by  Tacitus.  He  is  emphatically,  enemy  though  he  was  of  the 
Christian  sect,  the  first  martyrologist,  and  his  testimony,  coming  from  such  a 
quarter,  is  especially  conclusive. 
E 


50  EARLY   GEBISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

and  of  both  sexes,  round  the  great  amphitheatre  erected  and 
enlarged  for  the  show.  This  was  followed  by  the  "Venatio" 
or  hunting  scene,  a  spectacle  in  which  wild  beasts — lions, 
tigers,  wild  bulls,  wolves,  and  dogs — bore  a  prominent  part ; 
to  add  to  the  horrors  of  the  scene,  some  of  the  victims  would 
be  partially  clothed  in  skins  of  different  animals,  to  whet  the 
ferocity  of  the  dogs  and  other  beasts  specially  trained  for 
fighting.  By  a  strange  refinement  of  cruelty,  the  Roman 
mob  in  the  course  of  these  savage  games  Avas  regaled  with 
some  dramatic  spectacles,  the  scenery  of  which  was  drawn 
from  well-known  mythological  legends.  A  Hercules  was 
carried  to  the  funeral  pyre  and  then  burnt  alive,  amid  the 
frantic  applause  of  the  spectators;  an  Icarus  was  made  to 
fly,  and  then  fall  and  be  dashed  to  death.  The  hand  of  a 
Mutius  Scsevola  was  held  in  the  burning  brazier  till  the  limb 
of  the  tortured  sufferer  was  consumed ;  a  Pasiphae  was  gored 
by  a  bull ;  a  Prometheus  was  chained  to  the  rock  where  he 
underwent  his  terrible  punishment ;  a  Marsyas  was  flayed 
alive ;  an  Ixion  was  tortured  on  his  wheel ;  an  Actseon  was 
actually  torn  by  his  dogs.  This  dread  realism  formed  part 
of  the  cruel  amusements  of  Nero's  show  in  his  Vatican 
Gardens.  To  these  pieces  of  real  sorrowful  tragedy  were  added 
on  this  occasion  other  scenes  out  of  the  legendary  history  of 
the  past,  so  degrading  and  demoralising  that  the  historian 
must  pass  them  over  in  silence.*  At  last,  night  threw  its 
pitiful  veil  over  the  bloodstained  arena.  During  the  long 
hours  of  the  Italian  summer  day,  the  fierce,  excited  multitude, 
numbering  many  thousands,  had  been  gazing  on  these  un- 
heard-of tortures,  and  watching  the  dying  agonies  of  the 
crowd  of  the  first  Christian  martyrs  of  various  ranks  and 
orders,  slaves  and  freedmen,  soldiers  and  traders,  mostly  poor 
folk,  but    here  and  there  one   of  higher  rank   and   standing, 

*  Clement  of  Rome,  writing  some  few  years  after  the  "dread  show,"  parts  of 
which  he  probably  witnessed,  tells  us  how  "  unto  these  men  of  holy  lives  was 
gathered  a  vast  multitude  of  the  elect,  who,  through  many  indignities  and  tortures, 
being  the  victims  of  jealousy,  set  a  brave  example  among  ourselves  .  .  .  Women 
being  persecuted  after  they  had  suffered  cruel  and  unholy  insults  .  .  .  safely 
reached  the  goal  in  the  race  of  Faith,  and  received  a  noble  reward,  feeble  though 
they  were  in  body." — S.  Clement  of  Eome  :  Hpist.  to  Cur.  6. 


LU 

J 

tc 

/HI 

- 

z 

ti 

DC 

•^ 

LU 

p_, 

O 

^1 

NERO.  51 

some  old  men,  others  in  the  prime  and  vigour  of  life,  tender 
girls,  women  of  varied  ages,  some  even  children  in  years ;  but 
all,  as  it  seems,  enduring  the  nameless  agonies  with  calm, 
brave  patience,  asking  for  no  mercy,  offering  no  recantation 
of  their  faith  in  the  Name  for  which  they  were  suftering, 
some  even  smiling  in  their  pain.  .  .  .  But  the  night  which 
followed  that  August  day,  so  memorable  in  the  Christian 
annals,  brought  in  its  train  no  merciful  silence  into  the  grim 
garden  of  death  and  horror,  where  Nero  was  entertaining  his 
Roman  people.  The  games  still  went  on,  but  the  spectacle  on 
which  the  crowds  were  invited  to  gaze  was  changed.  The 
broad  arena  was  strcAvn  with  fresh  sand,  blotting  out  the  dark 
stains  left  by  the  long-drawn-out  tragedy  of  the  day.  Perfumes 
were  plentifully  sprinkled  to  freshen  the  heavy,  blood-poisoned 
atmosphere,  and  the  arena  was  lit  up  for  the  concluding  acts  of 
the  Imperial  drama.  Here,  however,  the  Emperor  had  devised  a 
new  and  original  spectacle  to  delight  the  fierce  crowd  whose 
applause  he  so  loved  to  evoke.  The  principal  amusement  of 
the  night  was  to  consist  in  chariot  racing,  in  which  the  Lord 
of  the  World  himself  was  to  bear  a  leading  part ;  for  Nero 
was  a  skilful  and  courasfeous  charioteer,  and  it  was  his  habit 
now  and  again  to  show  himself  in  this  guise  to  his  people, 
coming  down  from  his  gold  and  ivory  throne  into  the  arena. 
And  as  the  torches,  plentifully  scattered  on  that  vast  arena, 
gradually  flamed  up,  the  bystanders  were  amazed,  and  it 
seems  from  Tacitus'  words,  were  even  struck  with  horror  at 
the  sight,  and  for  the  first  time  in  that  day  of  death  and 
carnage,  pitied  as  they  gazed ;  for  every  torch  was  a  human 
being,  impaled  or  crucified  on  a  sharp  stake  or  cross.  The 
"torches"  quickly  flared  up,  for  every  human  form  was 
swathed  in  a  tunic  steeped  in  oil,  or  in  some  inflammable  liquid. 
Such  was  the  ghastly  illumination  of  the  arena  on  that 
never-to-be-forgotten  night  of  the  late  summer  of  the  year 
64,  when  the  chariot  races  were  run.  It  was  a  novel  form  of 
lighting  the  amphitheatre,  and  we  have  no  record  that  it 
was   ever  repeated.^     It    seems   to    have   been   too    shocking 

*  This  manner  of  burning  criminals  alive,  thus  robed  in  what  was  termed  the 
"tunica  raolesta,"  was  not  uncommon,  but  only  on  this  one  memorable  occasion 
were  the  livinf?  torches  used  as  the  illuminations. 


52  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

even  for  that  demoralised  and  bloodthirsty  populace,  whose 
chief  delight,  whose  supreme  pleasure,  was  in  those  sanguinary 
and  impure  spectacles  so  often  provided  for  the  people  by  the 
Emperors  of  the  first,  second,  and  third  centuries.* 

The  number  of  victims  sacrificed  in  this  persecution  of 
Nero  is  uncertain ;  it  was  undoubtedly  very  large.  Clement 
of  Rome,  writing  before  the  close  of  the  first  century,  describes 
them  as  "  a  great  multitude."  Tacitus,  a  very  few  years  later, 
uses  a  similar  expression  {ingens  multitudo) ;  and  when  it  is 
remembered  what  vast  numbers  on  different  occasions  were! 
devoted  to  the  public  butcheries  in  the  arena  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  populace,  it  may  be  assumed  without  exaggeration 
that  the  Christian  victims  who  were  massacred  at  that  ghastl}' 
festival  we  have  been  describing  probably  numbered  many 
hundreds. 

SECTION  II. — EFFECTS   OF  THE   PERSECUTION   OF   NERO. 

Nero's  games  in  the  Vatican  Gardens,  of  a.d.  64,  evidently 
left  a  profound  impression  on  the  Roman  world.  The 
spectators  were  used  to  these  pitiless  exhibitions.  The  croAvds 
who  thronged  the  amphitheatre  had  often  seen  men  die ;  but 
they  had  never  seen  men  die  like  those  Christians  who,  in 
scenes  of  unexampled  horror,  by  the  sword,  under  the  teeth 
of  wild  beasts,  or  in  the  flames,  passed  to  their  rest.  The 
memory  of  the  scene  evidently  was  still  fresh  in  Seneca's 
mind  when,  a  year  or  two  later,  he  wrote  to  Lucilius  urging 
him    to    bear    up    bravely    under    sickness   and    bodily  pain. 

*  These  "human"  torches  seem  to  have  burned  for  a  considerable  time, 
before  they  slowly  flickered  out,  so  Juvenal  describes  them  : 

.    .    .    "Taeda    .    .    . 

Qua  stantes  ardent,  qui  tixo  guttore  fumant, 
Et  latum  media  sulcum  diducit  arena." 

Satires  1,  155-157.  Compare,  too,  for  reference  to  this  persecution,  Clem., 
Ad.  Cor.,  6  ;  Tertullian,  Apol.  5  (when  he  refers  to  official  records),  also  Ad.  Nat., 
vii.  60-1,  and  Scorpiace,  15;  Eusebius,  H.  E.,  11,  22,  25,  etc.;  Lactantius,  Be 
Morte  Persecutorum,  2  ;  Tacitus,  Ann.,  xv.  44  ;  Suetonius,  Nero,  16. 

t  In  the  bloody  naval  games  given  by  the  Emperor  Claudius  in  a.d.  52  en 
Lake  Fucinus,  as  many  as  nineteen  thousand  condemned  criminals  fought 
together. — Tacitus,  Ann.,  xii.  56. 


NEEO.  53 

"  What,"  he  wrote,  "  are  your  sufferings  compared  with  the 
tiames,  and  the  cross,  and  the  rack,  and  the  nameless  tortures 
that  I  have  watched  men  endure,  without  shrinking,  without 
a  complaint,  without  a  groan  ?  And  as  if  all  this  quiet 
endurance  and  brave  patience  was  not  sufficient,  I  have  seen 
these  victims  even  smile  in  their  great  agony."* 

We  have  dwelt  in  some  detail  on  this  first  memorable 
"  wholesale "  martyrdom  under  Nero,  for  it  was  the  com- 
mencement of  a  new  era  in  the  Christian  life.  Up  to  a.d.  64 
the  profession  of  the  new  faith  was  made  in  quiet  and,  com- 
paratively speaking,  in  secret.  Up  to  that  date,  throughout  the 
Empire,  in  the  eyes  of  all  magistrates,  the  disciples  of  Jesus 
were  more  or  less  included  among  the  Jews,  who  enjoyed 
toleration,  and  in  some  quarters  even  favour.  But  hence- 
forth the  Christians  occupied  a  new  position.  They  belonged 
from  this  time  to  a  proscribed  sect.  Hitherto  their  existence 
had,  indeed,  been  known  to  many,  including,  of  course,  the 
police  and  magistrates;  but,  politically  speaking,  it  had  been 
ignored.  Now,  however,  the  action  of  Nero,  when  he  sought 
for  victims  on  whom  he  could  cast  the  odium  of  being 
the  incendiaries  on  the  occasion  of  the  great  fire  which 
had  desolated  Rome,  completely  changed  the  situation.  As 
Christian  writers  universally  affirm,  it  was  the  wicked  Emperor 
who  first  dragged  the  Christian  body  into  publicity,  who  first 
drew  the  sword  of  the  State  against  them,  who  gave  the 
signal  for  the  long  drawn-out  persecution  of  Christians  which 
lasted  about  two  centuries  and  a  half.  During  that  time 
there  were  no  doubt  intervals,  even  long  intervals,  when 
persecution  slept;  but  only  to  awaken  to  fresh  violence. 

From  the  day  of  the  Neronic  games  of  a.d.  64,  the  sword 
drawn  by  Nero  ever  hung  over  the  heads  of  the  condemned 
sect  until  the  hour  of  the  Christians'  triumph  some  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  when  the  peace  of  the  Church 
was  at  last  guaranteed  by  the  Edict  of  Constantino,  a.d.  313. 

We  will  rapidly  sum  up  the  position  of  Christians  in 
the  Empire. 

*  Seneca :  Ep.  78.  There  is  little  doubt  but  that  Seneca  was  referring  to  the 
scenes  he  had  witnessed  in  the  Vatican  Gardens,  a.d.  64. 


54  EAELY   CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

Until  A.D.  64  the  Roman  officials  had,  on  the  whole, 
treated  the  Christians  with  indifference,  or  even  with  favour 
mingled  with  contempt,  as  exemplified  several  times  in  the 
treatment  of  Paul  when  brought  before  the  Imperial  magis- 
trates. If  they  acted  harshly,  either  they  were  injfluenced 
by  the  enmity  of  influential  Jews  or  they  punished  the 
Christians  as  being  connected  with  disturbances  which  were 
due  in  part  to  their  presence  and  actions. 

But  in  A.D.  64,  a  year  after  Paul's  acquittal  from  the 
charges  brought  against  him  as  related  in  the  "  Acts,"  Nero 
began  a  bitter  persecution  against  the  sect  for  the  sake  of 
diverting  popular  attention  in  the  matter  of  the  burning  of 
Home.  It  was  soon  seen  that  they  had  had  no  real  hand 
in  that  terrible  crime ;  but  in  substituting  the  charge  of 
"  hatred  for  mankind "  the  Emperor  in  fact  introduced  the 
principle  of  punishing  Christians  for  their  Christianity.  His 
example  became  inevitably  the  guide  for  all  officials,  in  the 
provinces  as  well  as  at  Ronic^  The  general  persecution  of 
Christians  was  established  as  a  periTio-Tiewi  police  rtieasure, 
directed  against  a  sect  considered  dangerous  to  the  public 
safety.  No  edict  or  formal  law  at  that  early  period  was 
passed,  but  the  precedent  of  Rome  was  quoted  in  every  case 
when  a  Christian  was  accused.  The  attitude  of  the  State 
towards  the  sect  gradually,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years, 
became  settled.  No  proof  of  definite  crimes  committed  by 
the  Christians  was  required.  An  acknowledgment  of  the 
"  Name "  alone  sufficed  for  condemnation ;  as  is  shown  by  the 
well-known  correspondence  of  the  proconsul  Pliny  with  the 
Emperor  Trajan,  which  we  shall  presently  again  refer  to  in 
detail,  some  fifty  years  later  in  a.d.  112.  "The  action  of 
Nero  inaugurated  a  new  era  in  the  relation  of  the  Empire 
towards  Christianity,  says  Suetonius ;  and  Tacitus  does  not 
disagree."  ^ 

On  the  other  hand,  the  action  of  Nero  among  the  Chris- 
tians themselves  had  a  far-reaching  effect.  It  gave  them  a 
new  and  mighty  power,  or  rather  it  revealed  to  them  what  a 

*  Professor  Ramsay:  The  Church  in  the  I^oman  Empire  before  a.d.  170, 
chap.  xi. 


NERO.  55 

power  they  possessed — an  absolute  fearlessness  of  death. 
Possibly  this  was  unsuspected  before  the  Neronic  persecu- 
tion. A  historian*  of  rare  skill,  no  friend  indeed  to  the 
religion  of  Jesus,  does  not  hesitate  to  style  the  day  of  Nero's 
bloody  games  in  his  gardens  of  the  Vatican  "  the  most 
solemn  day  in  the  Christian  story  after  the  Crucifixion  on 
Golgotha."  The  expression  is  a  rhetorical  one,  but  though 
exaggerated,  it  has  a  basis  of  truth.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  the  prominent  and  militant  leaders,  Stephen  and 
8.  James,  who  were  victims  of  Jewish  jealousy,  we  have  no 
records  of  Christians  during  the  first  thirty  years  which 
followed  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension  of  the  Founder  of 
the  religion  laying  down  their  hves  for  the  Name ;  nor 
does  it  appear  that  in  any  of  the  communities  of  the 
followers  of  Jesus  was  the  dread  alternative  of  death  or 
denial  ever  put  before  them  in  that  first  period. 

The  Neronic  persecution  presenting  that  alternative  must 
have  come  upon  the  Roman  Church,  a  community  probably 
numbering  several  thousands,  with  startling  suddenness; 
revealing  what  apparently  was  before  unknown  or  at  least 
ignored — the  repulsion  with  which  the  Christians  were  generally 
regarded  by  the  great  world  lying  outside  the  little  circle 
who  happened  to  know  something  about  them.  They  were 
charged,  says  Tacitus,  with  "  hatred  of  the  world "  {i.e.  the 
Roman  world),  odium,  humani  generis ;  in  Professor  Ramsay's 
words,  "  with  being  enemies  to  the  customs  and  laws  which 
regulated  civilised  (i.e.  Roman)  society.  The  Christians,  so 
said  their  enemies,  were  bent  on  destroying  civilisation,  and 
civilisation  must  in  self-defence  destroy  them."  t 

Thus  put  to  the  test,  the  events  of  the  summer  of  the 
year  64  showed  what  was  the  secret  of  the  Christians' 
strength,  demonstrated  the  intensity  of  their  convictions ; 
young  and  old,  slave  and  free,  the  trader  and  the  patrician- 
born  alike,  proved  that  while  ready  and  willing  to  Hve 
quiet,  homely  lives  as  loyal  true  citizens,  as  faithful  ser- 
vants  of    the    Emperor,   to    them   "to    depart    [to    die]   and 

"  Renan :  Histoire  dcs  origines  de  Christianisme. — "  L'Antechrist,"  chap.  vii. 
t  Professor  Eamsav    -^A    Church  in  the  Roman  Umpire,  chap.  xi. 


56  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

to  be  with  Christ  was  far  better."  In  the  Vatican 
Gardens  of  Nero  began,  as  it  has  been  well  said,  that 
marvellous  epic  of  "  martyrdom "  which  amazed  and  con- 
founded a  sceptical  though  superstitious  world  for  two 
centuries  and  a  half 

Out  of  this  passion  for  martyrdom  sprang  the  ennobling 
enfranchisement  of  woman,  and  the  elevation  of  the  vast 
slave  class  from  the  position  of  hopeless  and  demoralising 
degradation.  For  in  the  many  and  striking  scenes  of 
martyrdom,  the  woman  and  the  slave  played  again  and 
again  an  heroic  and  even  a  leading  part.  What  had  taken 
place  at  Rome  when  Nero  was  Emperor  was  repeated  on  a 
smaller  scale  before  less  distinguished  and  less  numerous 
audiences  again  and  again  in  famous  provincial  centres, 
such  as  Smyrna,  Carthage,  Lyons,  Caesarea,  now  in  groups, 
now  singly.  When  the  supreme  hour  of  trial  struck 
and  the  Christian  had  to  choose  between  death  and  life 
— life  being  the  guerdon  offered  for  the  simple  renouncement 
of  Christ — very  rarely  indeed  was  hesitation  shown ;  the 
guerdon  was  at  once  rejected.  The  contempt  of  Christians 
for  death  puzzled,  irritated,  disturbed  the  Pagan  writers  and 
philosophers  as  much  as  the  magistrates.  They  were  utterly 
at  a  loss  to  comprehend  the  secret  power  which  inspired 
this  wonderful  sect.  As  much  as  possible  they  avoid  all 
allusion  to  Christians ;  whenever  a  mention  of  them  occurs 
irritation  and  surprise  are  plainly  visible.  The  one  reference  "^ 
made  to  them  by  the  great  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius  is  a 
curt  and  angry  allusion  to  their  contempt  for  death.  This 
strange  readiness  to  die  for  their  belief  was  the  characteristic 
feature  which  especially  struck  the  Roman  mind.  So  read}^ 
so  eager  Avere  the  Christians  to  give  up  dear  life  that  we 
find  that  their  great  teachers  were  now  and  again  obliged 
to  curb  and  even  to  restrain  what  had  positively  become  a 
too  passionate  desire  for  martyrdom. 

The  example  of  the  first  martyrs  of  Rome  was  followed 
with  a  curious  persistency,  alike  in  Syria  and  Asia,  in  Africa 
and   in   Gaul,   whenever,  indeed,  in   the   course   of  these  two 

*  Marcus  Aurelius  :    Meditations,  xi.  3. 


NEEO.  57 

centuries  and  a  half  they  were  challenged  to  deny  the 
"  Name."     The  number  of  waverers  was  comparatively  small. 

The  first  persecution,  begun  at  Rome  with  the  Vatican 
Games  of  64,  but  soon,  as  we  have  noted,  spreading  through 
the  Provinces,  continued  to  press  heavily  on  the  Christian 
congregations  until  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Nero"^  in  68. 

The  martyrdom  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  according  to  an 
immemorial  tradition,  took  place  in  the  year  67-8.  S.  Peter 
probably,  as  we  have  seen,  was  at  Rome  in  a.d.  64,  but  was 
not  one  of  the  victims  on  that  occasion.  S.  Paul  was  absent 
from  the  capital  in  64,  but  returned  a  year  or  two  later, 
probably  with  the  idea  of  gathering  together  and  strengthening 
the  scattered  and  decimated  Roman  congregations.  Tradition 
speaks  of  the  two  great  Christian  leaders  perishing  at  or 
about  the  same  date,  before  the  tyrant's  downfall  and  death 
in  68. 

Two  of  the  most  ancient  Christian  documents,  which  by 
the  consent  of  the  whole  Christian  Church  have  been  placed 
in  the  canon  of  inspired  books,  were  probably  written  under 
the  shadow  of  this  first  great  calamity.  They  contain  many 
and  undoubted  references  to  persecution.  These  documents 
are  the  First  Epistle  of  S.  Peter  and  the  Apocalypse  of  S.  John 
(the  Revelation).  The  letter  of  S.  Peter,  dated  from  Rome 
(for  well  nigh  all  scholars  are  now  agreed  that  under  the  mystic 
name  of  Babylon  which  occurs  in  the  salutation  at  the  close 
of  the  letter — 1  Peter  v.  13 — Rome  is  signified),  is  a  writing 
addressed  to  Oriental  Christians,  bidding  them  take  courage 
in  view  of  the  grave  trials  which  lay  immediately  before  them. 
No  book,  with  the  exception  of  the  Apocalypse  of  S.  John, 
is  so  evidently  marked  with  references  to  trial  and  suffering 
as  is  this  First  Epistle  of  S.  Peter.  And  the  references  are 
evidently  to  no  solitary  burst  of  persecution,  however  terrible, 
but  to  a  systematic  proscription,  to  which  all  Christians 
dwelling  in  different  parts  of  the  Roman  world  were  liable. 

*  "  Nero,  Romse  Christianos  suppliciis  ac  mortibus  affecit  ac  per  omnes  pro- 
vincias  pari  persecutione  excruciari  imperavit."  Orosius,  Adv.  Fag.  Hist.,  vii.  5; 
cf.  also  Tertullian,  ApoL,  5 ;  and  Lactantius,  De  Mort.  Fers.,  11,  and  see  too 
Suetonius,  N'ero,  16. 


58  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

The  Apocalypse  of  S.  John  was  also  evidently  written 
under  the  dark  shadow  of  persecution.  The  only  question 
is  whether  the  persecution  referred  to  therein  is  that  suffered 
by  the  Church  in  the  days  of  Nero,  or  that  endured  some 
twenty  years  later  under  Domitian.  If  the  first,  then  the 
writing  would  date  from  circa  a.d,  68 ;  if  the  second,  the 
Apocalypse  would  have  been  put  out  circa  a.d.  90.  The 
witness  of  Ireneeus,  who  wrote  about  a  century  later,  circa 
A.D.  170-80,  and  who  gives  the  later  date,  is  of  course  a  very 
weighty  one.  The  general,  though  not  the  universal,  con- 
sensus of  modern  scholars,  however,  prefers  the  earlier  date. 
In  the  words  of  Professor  Sanday :  "  Apart  from  details,  I 
question  if  any  other  date  fits  so  well  with  the  conditions 
implied  in  the  Apocalypse  as  that  between  the  death  of 
Nero  (a.d.  68)  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  (a.d.  70) ;  on 
aU  hands  there  were  wars  and  rumours  of  wars.  ...  It  mis^ht 
well  seem  as  if  the  crash  of  empires  was  a  fit  prelude  to  the 
crash  of  a  world.  Never  was  the  expectation  of  the  approaching 
end  so  keen,  never  were  men's  minds  so  highly  strung  .  .  . 
there  were  no  such  tremendous  issues,  no  such  clash  of 
opposing  forces,  no  such  intense  expectation  of  the  end  under 
Domitian.      The  background  seems  inadequate." 

With  strange  pathos,  John  the  beloved,  the  survivor  of 
the  Apostolic  band,  in  his  inspired  utterance  expresses  the  mind 
of  the  Christian  Church  after  the  first  terrible  persecution.  The 
fiery  trial  had  done  its  work  ;  henceforth  we  see  the  Church 
braced  up,  ready  to  suffer  and  to  be  strong,  in  the  face  of  the 
most  deadly  persecution.  "  How  grandly  over  all  echoes  the 
voice  which  borrows  its  tones  straight  from  the  prophets  of 
the  older  covenant :  '  Righteous  art  Thou,  which  art  and 
which  wast,  Thou  Holy  One,  because  Thou  didst  thus  judge 
.  ,  .  yea,  O  Lord  God  the  Almighty,  true  and  righteous  are 
Thy  judgments.'  Whenever  it  is,  Christians  are  being  per- 
secuted ;  the  Empire  is  making  its  hand  heavy  upon  them ; 
they  are  as  incapable  of  offering  resistance  as  a  child.  And 
yet  the  prophet's  gaze  hardly  seems  to  dwell  upon  the 
sufferings  of  himself  and  his  people.  They  are  a  school  of 
steadfastness  and  courage.     '  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and 


NEBO.  59 

1  will  give  thee  the  crown  of  life,'  is  the  chief  moral  to 
be  dra-vvn  from  them.  But  the  prophet  looks  away  beyond 
the  persecution  to  the  fate  of  the  persecutors.  .  .  .  The 
central  feature  of  the  Apocalypse  is  its  intense  longing  for 
the  advent  of  Christ  and  His  kingdom,  with  its  confident 
assertion  of  the  ultimate  victory  of  good  over  evil,  and  of 
the  dawning  of  a  state  of  blissful  perfection  where  sorrow 
and  sighing  shall  flee  away."^ 

The  confusion  and  disorder  which  followed  immediately 
upon  Nero's  death  were  speedily  closed  by  the  accession  of 
Vespasian  to  supreme  power. 

*  Professor  Sanday :  Bampton  Lecture  VII. 


60 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   CHURCH   IN   ROME   AFTER   NERO. 

What  now  was  the  condition  of  the  Christian  Church  durinsr 
the  reigns  of  Vespasian  and  Titus,  that  is,  from  a.d.  68  (the 
date  of  the  death  of  Nero)  to  a.d.  81  ?  That  the  Christians 
were  harried  by  a  persecution  under  Domitian,  who  succeeded 
his  brother  Titus  as  Emperor  in  the  year  81,  reigning  until 
a.d.  96,  is  universally  accepted  as  certain ;  whereas  Christian^ 
and  profane  historians  alike,  as  a  rule,  represent  the  period 
covered  by  the  reigns  of  Vespasian  aud  Titus  as  a  time  of 
stillness  for  the  harassed  religion.  Recent  investigations,  how- 
ever, point  to  a  somewhat  different  conclusion. 

An  important  passage  from  Sulpicius  Severus,  a  Chris- 
tian writer  of  the  fourth  century,  has,  in  late  years,  been 
critically  examined,  with  the  result  that  the  passage  in 
question  is  judged  to  have  been  based  upon  an  extract  from 
a  lost  writing  of  Tacitus.  The  words  of  Sulpicius  Severus 
tell  us  of  a  Council  of  War  held  by  Titus  after  the  capture 
of  Jerusalem  in  a.d.  70.  In  the  council  Titus  is  reported 
to  have  expressed  the  view  that  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem 
ought  to  be  destroyed  in  order  that  the  religions  of  the 
Jews  and  of  the  Christians  might  be  more  completely  extir- 
pated. The  Christians  had  arisen  from  amongst  the  Jews, 
and  when  the  root  was  torn  up  the  stem  would  easily  be 
destroyed.t  This  points  to  the  policy  of  stern  repression, 
inaugurated  by   Nero,   being   continued    for    political    reasons 

*  Compare,  however,  as  an  exception  here,  Hilary  of  Poitiers  [circa  middle  of 
fourth  century),  who  ranks  Vespasian,  as  a  persecutor  of  the  Church,  "  between  Nero 
and  Decius,"  Contra  Arianos. 

f  Compare  Professor  Ramsay,  The  Church  in  the  Roman  Enqnre,  chap.  xii. 


TEE    ORURGE  IN  ROME   AFTER   NERO.  61 

by  Titus  and  his  father  Yespasian.  There  is  a  passage  of 
Suetonius  (Vespasian  15)  where  it  is  said  that  "Vespasian 
never  in  the  death  of  anyone  [took  pleasure,  and  in  the 
case  of]  merited  punishment  he  wept  and  even  groaned."* 
The  passage  is  mutilated,  but  it  seems  probable  that  the 
reference  here  is  to  punishments  which,  according  to  the 
precedent  of  Nero,  were  inflicted  upon  Christians.  Such  men 
as  Vespasian  and  Titus  would  hate  to  inflict  cruel  punishment 
upon  quiet  subjects  of  the  Empire,  as  they  were  conscious 
the  Christians  were ;  but  it  had  been  already  decided  by  the 
Government  to  treat  the  Christian  sect  as  enemies  of  the 
public  weal,  and  in  this  decision  the  great  princes  of  the 
Flavian  House  concurred,  agreeing  in  the  conclusion  come  to 
in  the  reign  of  Nero  that  the  peculiar  tenets  of  the  Christians 
were  inimical  to  the  well-being  of  the  State  as  then  con- 
stituted. ' 

Reasoning  further  fi'om  the  famous  correspondence  of  the 
Emperor  Trajan  with  the  proconsul  Pliny,  from  which  we 
gather  that  a  practically  fixed  procedure  had  long  been 
established  in  the  treatment  of  the  new  sect  of  Christians, 
it  would  seem  on  the  whole  unlikely  that  the  Christians 
enjoyed  any  period  of  real  quietness  directly  aft^r  the  death 
of  Nero.  That  there  was  no  active  proscription  is  probable, 
but  that  they  practised  their  religion  under  circumstances 
of  difiiculty  and  danger  is  almost  certain.  In  Domitian's 
day,  however,  the  persecution  became  once  more  active,  and 
Ave  shall  have  to  chronicle  amidst  the  crowd  of  unknown 
sufferers  the  fate  of  certain  notable  victims  who  were  subjected 
to  the  severest  penalties,  and  in  some  cases  were  even  put 
to  death. 

To  return  to  the  important  Church  in  Rome,  which 
had  suffered  so  grievously  at  the  cruel  hands  of  Nero.  On 
the  death  of  the  two  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  circa  a.d. 
67-68,  the   government  of  the  Church  of  the  capital  of  the 

*  "ISTeque  cngde  cujusquam  unquam  [laitatus  est  et]  justis  suppliciis  inlacri- 
mavit,  etiam  et  ingemuit."  "Some"  (says  Professor  Eamsay)  "fill  the  obvious 
gap  with  the  single  word  Icetatus,  but  neque  at  the  beginning  looks  forward 
necessarily  to  et  following."     The  Church  in  the  Roman  Empire,  xii.  2. 


62  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Empire  came  into  the  hands  of  Linus,  the  same  probably 
who  sends  greeting  to  Timothy  on  the  eve  of  S.  Paul's 
martyrdom  (2  Tim.  iv.  21).  Of  this  episcopate  of  Linus  we 
know  nothing;  even  tradition  is  almost  silent  here.  The 
"Liber  Pontificalis,"  in  which  many  ancient  and  some  fairly 
trustworthy  traditions  are  embodied,  only  tells  us  that  this 
Linus  issued  a  direction  for  women  to  appear  in  church 
with  their  heads  covered.  From  the  lists  of  the  early 
Roman  succession  we  find  that  Linus  presided  over  the 
Roman  community  some  twelve  years.  A  veil  of  silence, 
too,  rests  over  the  episcopate  of  his  successor,  Anencletus  or 
Cletus.  The  duration  of  his  rule  is  also  given  in  the  Eusebian 
Catalogue  as  twelve  years.  Clement  of  Rome,  who  followed 
him,  lived  through  the  reign  of  Domitian,  in  whose  days  the 
fury  of  persecution  awoke  again.  Clement  survived  the 
tjrrant,  dying  in  the  third  year  of  the  reign  of  the  Emperor 
Trajan,  the  year  that  closed  the  first  century.  Ecclesiastical 
writers  speak  of  the  proscription  of  Christians  in  the  reign 
of  Domitian  as  the  second  persecution  of  the  Church. 
Although  the  policy  of  the  Empire  in  the  days  of  Vespasian 
and  Titus,  and  in  the  early  period  of  Domitian's  reign,  had 
been  adverse  to  the  existence  of  Christianity,  the  practical 
rule  of  action  was,  that  the  oflicials  of  the  Government 
should  not  in  any  case  seek  out  these  "  rehgious "  offenders. 
It  was  true  that  a  Christian  was  a  criminal  who  deserved 
death,  but  the  magistrate  might  shut  his  eyes  to  his  existence 
until  some  notorious  act  on  the  part  of  the  Christian  or  the 
information  of  an  officious  accuser  compelled  him  to  open  them. 
But  this  unwillingness  to  proceed  against  the  sect  only 
gave  them  partial  protection.  The  ill-will  of  an  Emperor 
or  even  of  a  Provincial  Governor  at  any  moment  might 
unsheathe  the  sword  of  the  Law,  never  quite  hidden  in  its 
scabbard ;  and  the  defenceless  Christians  would  find  them- 
selves at  once  exposed  to  the  severest  penalties.  If  the 
Emperor  was  hostile,  the  persecution  became  general ;  if 
merely  the  Provincial  Magistrate  was  ill-disposed  to  the 
sect,  the  persecution  was  generally  confined  to  the  district 
over  which  his  authority  extended. 


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TEE    GEUBCH   IN   ROME    AFTER   NEBO.  63 

This  second  severe  attack  differed  in  some  respects  from 
the  Neronic  persecution.  Under  Domitian  there  was  no 
massacre  of  crowds  of  unresisting  men  and  women  as  in  the 
amphitheatre  games  of  Nero.  Individual  Christians,  some 
of  them  of  the  highest  rank,  even  among  the  Emperor's 
own  kinsfolk,  were  arrested  and  put  to  death  ;  but,  although 
there  was  no  wholesale  butchery,  the  number  of  sufferers 
in  the  course  of  the  active  j)ersecution  under  him  was  very 
considerable.  The  Church  was  constantly  harassed ;  no 
Christian  was  safe  from  the  consequences  of  the  report  of 
an  infamous  informer ;  and,  in  most  cases,  death  speedily 
followed  the  arrest.  Flavins  Clemens,  the  cousin  of  the 
Emperor,  was  among  the  victims  who  perished ;  Domitilla, 
his  wife,  among  the  banished.  Domitilla,  however,  lived  to 
return  to  Rome  after  the  tyrant's  death. 

We  possess  no  records  which  give  us  any  details  respect- 
ing the  state  of  the  Church  in  Rome  during  the  period  of 
comparative  quietness  between  the  persecutions  by  Nero 
and  Domitian.  The  Letter  of  Clement,  however,  a  little 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  Nero's  death,  gives 
us  important  information  respecting  the  position  of  the 
Church  of  the  Capital ;  while  recent  archosological  discoveries 
also  throw  a  strong  sidelight  on  the  position  of  Christians 
at  Rome,  and  incidental  mention  of  individual  Christians  in 
contemporary  writers  assists  us  in  our  conception  of  the 
progress  of  the  Church  during  that  quarter  of  a  century. 

Although  for  the  time  seriously  weakened  by  the  severe 
measures  of  a.d.  64,  and  disheartened  by  the  deaths  of 
Peter  and  Paul,  the  Church  in  Rome  gradually  recovered 
from  the  calamity.  It  had  made  too  firm  a  lodgment  in 
the  great  city  to  be  permanently  injured,  and  it  emerged 
from  the  fiery  trial  purified  and  strengthened.  Its  con- 
verts, too,  as  we  have  seen,  were  drawn  from  all  ranks 
and  orders;  by  no  means  was  the  Christian  community 
only  composed  of  slaves  or  freedmen,  or  of  persons  belonging 
to  the  plebeian  trading  classes.  It  numbered  many  wealthy 
Romans,  some  of  them  of  the  highest  rank. 

About  the  year  92  we  find  Clement  occupying  the  position 


64  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  Bishop  of  the  Christian  community  at  Rome.  Now,  no 
one  outside  the  ApostoUc  ranks  occupies  so  prominent  a  place 
in  early  Christian  story  as  does  this  Clement,  who,  in  the 
various  lists  of  the  Roman  succession  which  from  the  middle 
of  the  second  century  onwards  have  come  down  to  us,  gener- 
ally appears  as  the  third  in  succession  from  St.  Peter.  When 
this  Clement  succeeded  to  the  government  of  the  Roman 
Church,  the  reign  of  Domitian  was  more  than  half  over. 
The  duration  of  his  episcopate  is  given  in  the  lists  as  nine 
years.  His  death  occurred,  then,  in  the  last  year  of  the  first 
century,  when  the  Emperor  Trajan  was  reigning. 

Clement,  without  doubt,  was  the  most  prominent  figure 
in  the  flourishing  Church  of  the  metropolis  of  the  world  in 
the  age  which  succeeded  the  removal  by  death  of  Peter  and 
of  Paul ;  and  evidently  wielded  an  extraordinary  authority  in 
the  Church,  not  only  in  Italy,  but  in  distant  countries  more 
or  less  connected  with  Italy  and  with  Rome.  How  great  was 
the  influence  of  the  Church  of  Rome  in  other  and  remote 
centres  we  shall  show  presently. 

We  may  put  aside  as  mythical  the  various  details  con- 
nected with  Clement  which  appear  in  the  singular  early 
romance  generally  known  as  "  The  Clementines."  This 
curious  religious  romance  dates  from  about  the  middle  of 
the  second  century.  Its  unknown  author  seems  to  have 
wanted  a  hero  for  his  story,  and  no  more  imposing  name 
than  that  of  the  famous  Roman  bishop,  who  was  at  once  a 
ofreat  Church  administrator  and  a  writer,  could  be  found  for 
his  purpose.  This  very  early  work  probably  suggested  a 
similar  use  of  Clement's  name  to  later  writers."^ 

Dismissing  these  various  apocryphal  compositions  as  un- 
historical,  what  do  we  know  certainly  about  this  famous 
Church  leader  ?  Now  Irenceus,  writing  a.d.  175,  or  a  few 
years  later,  had  spent  some  time  in  the  metropolis,  when 
the  memory  of  Clement  was  still  fresh.     He  tells   us  ("Adv. 

*  Compare  Bishop  Lightfoot's  ApostoUc  Fathers,  Clement  of  Rome  (vol. 
i.,  pp.  100,  101),  on  the  authorship  of  the  "Clementine  Homilies  and  Recogni- 
tions," the  "Epistles  to  Virgins,"  the  "Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,"  the 
"Apostolical  Constitutions,"  etc. 


THE    CHURCH   IiY   ROME    AFTER    NERO.  65 

Haer,"  iii.  3,  3)  that  the  founders  of  the  Roman  Church  are 
''■  the  glorious  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul " ;  they  committed  it 
to  the  charge  of  Linus,  who  is  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to 
Timothy  (2  Tim.  iv.  21).  The  next  in  succession  to  Linus 
was  Anencletus.  After  Anencletus  followed  Clement,  "  who 
also  had  seen  the  blessed  Apostles,  and  had  conversed  with 
them,  and  had  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles  still  ringing  in 
his  ears,  and  their  tradition  before  his  eyes  .  .  ,  He  was  not 
alone  in  this,  for  many  still  remained  at  this  time,  who  had 
been  taught  by  the  Apostles."  ..."  In  the  time  of  Clement," 
continues  Irenseus,  "  a  feud  of  no  small  magnitude  arose 
among  the  brethren  in  Corinth,  and  the  Church  in  Rome 
sent  a  most  exhaustive  {iKavcora.T'qv)  letter  to  the  Corinthians, 
thinking  to  bring  them  to  peace,  and  quickening  their  faith, 
and  declaring  the  tradition  which  they  had  so  lately  received 
from  the  Apostle." 

It  is  this  "  Letter  to  the  Corinthians,"  to  which  Irenseus 
refers,  which  constitutes  the  real  importance  of  Clement's 
life  and  work  to  us.  There  were  other  Bishops  of  Rome 
immediately  preceding  and  succeeding  Clement;  but  from 
none  of  them  do  we  inherit  a  long  and  weighty  document 
like  this,  issumg  from  the  heart  of  the  Church  only  a  quarter 
of  a  century  after  the  passing  away  of  Peter  and  Paul,  dating 
from  a  time  when  John  was  still  living  and  teaching  at 
Ephesus ;  a  document  which  not  only  bears  in  itself  ample 
proofs  of  its  genuineness,  but  is  testified  to  by  ancient  and 
trustworthy  authorities  in  the  most  positive  and  decisive 
language. 

That  it  was  in  the  hands  of  Polycarp,  Bishop  of  Smyrna, 
is  perfectly  clear  from  the  long  list  of  parallel  passages,  many 
of  them  copied  verbatim  by  Polycarp  from  Clement,  in  his 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians  circa  a.d.  108-10.  Irenseus,  circa 
A.D.  170-80,  we  have  already  quoted  as  referring  expressly  to 
it,  ascribing  to  it  a  position  of  very  high  importance,  because 
it  records  the  traditional  interpretation  of  Apostolic  teaching, 
which  was  the  standard  of  truth  in  the  great  church  of 
Rome  from  the  earliest  times.  Dionysius  of  Corinth,  circa 
A.D.  170,  relates  how  this  epistle  was  read  in  church  pubHcly 

F 


66  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

on  the  Lord's  day.  Clement  of  Alexandria,  before  the  close 
of  the  second  century,  quotes  this  epistle  frequently  and  with 
great  respect.  Origen,  a  few  years  later,  quotes  several 
passages  from  Clement's  letter,  and  holds  his  testimony  in 
honour.  Coming  down  the  stream  of  time,  the  historian 
Eusebius,  to  whose  patient  industry  we  owe  so  much  of  our 
knowledge  of  the  Church  of  the  "Age  of  the  Persecutions," 
writing  in  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  century,  calls  Clement's 
epistle  "  great  and  marvellous,"  and  dwells  on  its  "  having  the 
testimony  of  antiquity  to  its  genuineness."  Besides  the  above, 
Clement  is  quoted  by  name  by  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  circa 
A.D,  347 ;  Basil  of  Ccesarea,  circa  a.d.  375 ;  Epiphanius, 
circa  A.D.  375  ;  Jerome,  circa  a.d.  375-410 ;  and  by  Rujlnus, 
circa  a.d.  410. 

So  highly  was  this  letter  of  Clement  of  Rome  held  in 
honour  that  it  was  frequently  read  publicly  in  churches 
other  than  that  of  Corinth,  to  which  it  was  addressed. 
Eusebius  tells  us  that  it  was  the  custom  to  do  so  in  very 
many  churches,  both  formerly  and  in  his  own  time  (H.  E.  iii.  16). 

This  epistle  of  Clement,  which  was  so  widely  known  and 
highly  valued  from  the  end  of  the  first  century  onwards  for 
more  than  three  hundred  years,  is  a  document  written  in 
Greek.  It  is  somewhat  longer  than  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  and  incidentally,  among  other  and  less  important 
points,  gives  much  information  respecting  the  position  which 
Rome  occupied  towards  other  Churches ;  upon  the  attitude 
which  the  Christian  Church  was  directed  to  assume  toAvards 
the  Emperor  and  the  Government  of  the  Empire ;  and  upon 
the  fundamental  doctrines  which  were  the  groundwork  of  the 
dogmatic  teaching  of  the  large  and  important  Christian  com- 
munity of  the  capital  in  the  last  years  of  the  first  century. 

And  yet,  highly  valued  and  prized  as  was  this  letter  of 
Clement  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  the  eminent  teachers  who 
made  use  of  it,  and  the  Churches  who  even  introduced  it  into 
the  public  teaching  of  the  congregation,  evidently  placed  it 
on  a  lower  and  very  different  level  from  the  writings  of  such 
men  as  Paul  and  Peter,  whose  letters  at  a  very  early  period 
were  received  as  absolutely  authoritative. 


THE    CHURCH   IN   ROME    AFTER    NERO.  67 

Who,  now,  was  this  Clement  who  was  then  so  widely 
known  and  honoured  ?  Origen,  who  wrote  in  the  first  half 
of  the  third  century,  and  whose  jDrofound  scholarship  and 
literary  power  place  him  very  high  as  a  witness,  without  any 
doubt  identifies  him  with  the  Clement  mentioned  by  S.  Paul 
writing  to  the  Philippians  (iv.  3)  as  among  the  "  fellow 
labourers  whose  names  are  in  the  Book  of  Life."  This 
identification  is  adopted  by  the  historian  Eusebius,  and  by 
not  a  few  early  writers;  and  although  modern  critics  consider 
it  as  somewhat  precarious,  all  serious  scholars  agree  in  accepting 
the  very  early  constant  and  definite  tradition  that  he  was  the 
disciple  of  one  or  both  of  the  great  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
whose  names  are  so  closely  connected  with  the  foundation  of 
the  Koman  Church. 

Dismissing  as  unlikely  the  theory  maintained  by  some 
that  Clement  the  Bishop  was  identical  with  Flavins  Clemens, 
the  cousin  of  Domitian,  it  seems  on  the  whole  most  probable 
that  the  famous  Bishop  was  a  man  of  Jewish  descent,  perhaps 
a  freedman  belonging  to  the  household  of  Flavins  Clemens, 
the  Emperor's'  cousin,  who  suffered  martyrdom  in  the  course 
of  the  persecution  of  Domitian. 

Very  vivid  is  the  light  thrown  upon  the  inner  life  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  in  the  last  decade  of  the  first  century  by 
the  letter  of  the  Bishop,  the  genuineness  and  authenticity  of 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  undoubted.  In  the  first  place,  it 
tells  us  what  was  the  position  of  the  Church  of  the  capital 
towards  other  Churches.  Now  the  object  of  the  letter  was 
to  induce  the  rulers  of  the  Church  of  Corinth  to  put  an  end 
at  once  to  a  spirit  of  faction  and  insubordination  to  their 
ofiicial  rulers  which  had  arisen  lately  in  the  community 
there.  The  danger  to  the  well-being  and  prosperity  of  the 
Church  was  evidently  very  great,  and  the  tone  adopted  by 
the  Church  of  Rome  in  the  letter  of  Clement  was  urgent, 
almost  imperious.  The  recognition  of  the  ascendancy  of  the 
Church  of  Rome^  is  implied  in  the  fact,  already  noted,  that 

*  The  moral  ascendancy  of  the  Church  (not  the  Bishop)  of  Eome,  Bishop 
Lightfoot  well  considers  to  have  been  the  historical  foundation  of  the  undoubted 
primacy  of  Rome,  a  primacy  which  evidently  existed  in  primitive  times. 


68  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

this  letter  was  for  a  long  period  constantly  read  in  the  public 
services  of  the  Church  of  Corinth. 

In  the  second  place,  very  clearly  is  the  attitude  adopted  by 
Christians  toiuards  the  reigning  Emperor  and  the  Government 
set  forward  in  Clement's  letter. 

The  Christians  in  Rome  had  had  experience  of  the  first 
and  one  of  the  most  terrible  persecutions  to  which  the 
followers  of  Jesus  were  ever  exposed.  They  had  then  passed 
through  a  long  period  when  the  sword  of  proscription  was 
ever  threatening,  if  not  actually  drawn,  in  the  reigns  of 
Vespasian  and  Titus,  and  in  the  earlier  years  of  Domitian. 
They  had  very  lately  gone  through  a  renewed  period  of  bitter 
trial  during  the  latter  portion  of  Domitian's  reign.  But  in 
the  letter  of  Clement,  which  accurately  reflected  the  mind 
and  policy  of  the  Christian  Church  of  the  metropolis  in  the 
closing  years  of  the  first  century,  not  an  angry  word  is 
written,  not  a  hint  of  resistance  to  the  powers  that  be  is 
ever  whispered.  After  referring  to  the  victories  of  persecu- 
tion, after  openly  stating  that  at  the  hour  of  writing  the 
letter  the  Christian  community  was  exposed  to  some  dire 
penalties,  after  penning  the  sad  sentence,  "  We  are  struggling 
on  the  same  arena,  the  same  conflict  awaits  us  and  you," 
Clement  wrote  the  following  noble  prayer  for  Ruler  and 
Governor  :  "  Guide  our  steps  to  walk  in  holiness  and  righteous- 
ness and  simpleness  of  heart,  and  to  do  such  things  as  are 
good  and  well  pleasing  in  Thy  sight,  and  in  the  sight  of 
our  rulers.  Give  concord  and  peace  to  us  and  to  all  that 
dwell  on  the  earth  .  .  .  that  we  may  be  saved ;  while  we 
render  obedience  to  Thine  Almighty  and  most  excellent 
Name,  and  to  our  Rulers  and  Governors  upon  the  earth. 
Thou,  O  Lord  and  Master,  hast  given  them  the  power  of 
sovereignty,  through  Thine  excellent  and  unspeakable  might, 
that  we,  knowing  the  glory  and  honour  which  Thou  hast 
given  them,  may  submit  ourselves  unto  them,  in  nothing 
resisting  Thy  will."'^ 

*  Clem.  Eom.  :  Ep.,  1,  7,  GO-61.  The  rest  of  this  most  beautiful  prayer  in 
the  liturgy  at  the  end  of  the  Epistle,  lately  recovered,  is  well  worth  reading  and 
pondering  over,  as  it  evidently  reflects  perfectly  the  mind  of  Christians  towards 


THE    CHURCH   IN    ROME    AFTER    NERO.  69 

This  expression  of  quiet  loyalty  to  the  Emperor  and  the 
Magistrates  of  the  Empire  on  the  part  of  the  important  Roman 
community  at  such  an  early  period,  while  a  cruel  persecution 
was  actually  going  on,  voiced  by  so  eminent  a  Christian 
leader  as  Clement,  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  is  of  great  import- 
ance; and  after  the  affirmations  respecting  doctrines,  which 
we  shall  presently  deal  with,  is  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
disclosure  respecting  the  inner  life  of  the  primitive  Church 
in  this  great  letter.  The  principle  of  unswerving  loyalty 
to  the  chief  of  the  State,  and  of  uncomplaining  sub- 
mission to  the  harshest  Imperial  decrees,  here  laid  down 
so  sublimely  in  this  weighty  utterance  of  the  Roman  Church 
circa  A.D.  96,  passed  into  the  unwritten  law  of  the  Church. 
It  is  dwelt  upon  by  other  famous  Christians  in  writings 
which  have  come  down  to  us,  probably  about  a  century 
after  the  death  of  Clement,  notably  by  the  eloquent  Cartha- 
ginian theologian  TertuUian. 

Loyal  obedience  to  the  constituted  power  of  the  Empire 
was  pressed  home  in  the  most  emphatic  terms  by  the 
Apostles  Peter  and  Paul ;  and  their  disciple  Clement,  when 
he  became  head  of  the  great  Church  they  founded,  reiterated 
the  charge  given  by  those  inspired  followers  of  the  Master. 

But,  in  the  inner  life  of  the  very  early  Christian  Church, 
of  still  greater  importance  is  the  testimony  afforded  by 
Clement's  writings  to  the  fundamental  doctrines  taught  in 
the  Christian  Church  of  Rome  a  quarter  of  a  century  after 
the  deaths  of  Peter  and  Paul.  Irenseus  quotes  Clement's 
letter  as  passing  on  to  other  Churches  the  tradition  which 
he,  Clement,  had  lately  received  from  the  Apostles. 

Very  definite  was  the  teaching  on  the  Atonement  and 
Mediation  of  Christ.  The  spirit  of  Clement  was  deeply  tinged 
with  the  thoughts  and  the  very  language  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews ;  constantly  he  speaks  of  the  "  blood  of 
Christ "  with  reference  to  "  ransom,"  "  deliverance,"  etc.  He 
emphatically    believed    in    the    pre-existence    of    Christ,    and 

their  persecutors  in  the  first  century.  It  was  the  rnodel  upon  which  the  Christians 
ordered  their  behaviour  to  the  State  during  the  second  and  third  and  the  early 
years  of  the  fourth  century. 


70  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

refers  explicitly  to  His  Resurrection.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Holy  Trinity  is  clearly  emphasised.  We  come  upon  the 
following  passages,  for  instance,  in  our  letter :  "  As  God 
liveth  and  Jesus  Christ  liveth,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  (Who 
are)  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  Elect "  (c.  58),  and  "  Have 
we  not  one  God  and  one  Christ  and  one  Spirit  of  Grace  that 
was  shed  upon  us  ? "  (c.  46). 

The  Divinity  of  Christ  is-  even  asserted  by  Clement  in 
terms  which  the  more  ofuarded  theolosrians  of  the  fourth 
century  would  have  shrunk  from  using,  for  fear  of  being 
charged  with  Patripassian  errors."^ 

These  are  only  great  landmarks  in  Clement's  famous 
writing;  but  the  letter  shows  how  deeply  saturated  was  the 
writer  with  the  doctrinal  teaching  of  the  more  important 
Epistles  of  Paul  to  the  Romans  and  Corinthians,  as  well  as 
with  the  Catholic  truths  set  out  in  several  of  the  smaller 
Epistles,  notably  in  that  to  the  Ephesians.  He  was  equally 
at  home  too  with  Peter's  first  and  weightier  Epistle,  and 
also  with  that  of  James ;  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  its 
thoughts  and  even  its  language,  were  evidently  so  familiar 
to  Clement  that  many  ancient  scholars  attributed  the  author- 
ship of  that  great  letter  to  him.  To  sum  up,  he  is  a 
powerful  witness  to  the  unity,  to  the  oneness  of  the  teaching 
of  the  primitive  Church ;  never  divided,  as  some  modern 
critics  love  to  assert,  into  schools  of  which  the  honoured 
names  of  Peter  and  Paul  and  James  were  respectively  the 
watchwords. 

The  witness  of  the  letter  of  Clement  to  the  inner  life 
of  the  Christian  community  of  Rome  at  the  end  of  the  first 
century  has  been  wonderfully  enriched  by  an  unexpected 
discovery  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The   Epistle   of  S.   Clement   of  Rome  was  first   pubhshed 

*  The  passage  referred  to  occurs  in  the  second  section  of  the  letter,  when  if 
the  reading  deliberately  preferred  by  Bishop  Lightfoot  (with  Harnack)  be  adopted 
Clement  would  be  speaking  of  the  "sufferings  of  God"  (ra  irad-^fiara  avrov),  the 
antecedent  to  aiirov  being  "God."  This  language  is  found  not  unfrequently  in 
early  writers,  e.ff.  Ignatius,  several  times ;  in  Melito  of  Sardis,  in  Tatian,  and  in 
the  "  Testament  of  the  XII.  Patriarchs,"  and  in  various  places  in  Tertullian,  with 
which  Acts  XX.  28  may  be  compared. 


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FACSIMILE     OF     A     PAGE     FROM        CODEX     A," 

CONTAINING     A      PORTION     OF     CO.     XVI.     AND     XVII.,     ETC.,     OF     THE     EPISTLE     OF     CLEMENT. 

Pre.seiited  to  Charle.s  I.  by  the  Patriiufli,  Cyril  Lncav ;   now  in  tlie  Hritisli  Mii.seuni. 


TEE    GHUBGH  IN   ROME    AFTER    NERO.  71 

about  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago  from  a  precious  MS. 
presented  to  King  Charles  I.  by  Cyril  Lucar,  Patriarch, 
first  of  Alexandria  and  subsequently  of  Constantinople,  and 
brought  to  England  in  the  year  1628.  It  is  now  in  the 
British  Museum,  and  is  known  as  "  A."  It  contained  originally 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  but  has  been  mutilated.  The 
MS.  was  written  as  far  back  as  the  fourth  century,  or 
possibly  a  little  later  in  the  fifth  century.  The  letter  of 
Clement"^  stands  at  the  end  of  the  New  Testament,  in 
this  MS.,  which  until  the  last  few  years  was  the  only  exist- 
ing MS.  of  our  letter,  and  just  at  the  end  a  page  was  wanting. 

In  the  year  1875  the  letter  was  published  by  Bryennios, 
Metropohtan  of  Serrae,  from  a  MS.  lately  discovered  m  the 
library  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  in  Constantinople.  In  this 
MS.  the  long  lost  page  existed.  Very  shortly  after  a  Syrian 
MS.  was  unearthed,  also  containing  the  letter  with  the 
lost  page.  We  therefore  now  possess  the  whole  of  Clement's 
writinsr. 

The  recovered  page  contains  a  beautiful  and  striking 
prayer  of  considerable  length,  occupying  above  seventy  lines 
of  an  ordinary  octavo  page.  It  is  a  kind  of  litany,  opening 
with  an  elaborate  invocation  of  God;  then  comes  an  inter- 
cession for  wanderers,  hungry  ones,  captives,  etc.  These 
intercessions  are  followed  by  a  general  confession  of  sins 
and  prayer  for  pardon  and  Divine  help.  It  is  in  the  course 
of  this  long  litany  and  prayer  that  the  remarkable  sentences 
occur  to  which  reference  has  been  already  made,  which 
indicate  the  attitude  assumed  by  the  suffering  and  persecuted 
Christians  towards  the  Emperor  and  his  Government. 

Bishop  Lightfoot  of  Durham  draws  the  following  con- 
clusions from  this  prayer  of  Clement : 

"What  then  shall  we  say  of  this  litany  ?  Has  S.  Clement  in- 
troduced into  his  epistle  a  portion  of  a  fixed  form  of  words 
then  in  use  in  the  Roman  Church  ? "  He  thus  answers 
his    question :     "  There    was    at     this    time    no    authoritative 

*  There  is  a  second  letter  of  Clement  following  the  "first"  in  the  BIS., 
but  as  it  is  not  considered  by  scholars  as  a  writing  of  Clement,  we  have  not 
noticed  it  here. 


72  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

written  liturgy  in  use  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  but  the 
prayers  were  modified  at  the  discretion  of  the  officiating 
minister.  Under  the  dictation  of  habit  and  experience,  how- 
ever, these  prayers  were  gradually  assuming  a  fixed  form.  . 
As  the  chief  pastor  of  the  Roman  Church  would  be  the 
main  instrument  in  thus  moulding  the  liturgy,  the  prayers, 
without  actually  being  written  down,  would  assume  in  his 
mmd  a  fixity  as  time  went  on.  When,  therefore,  at  the 
close  of  his  epistle  he  asks  his  readers  to  fall  on  their  knees, 
and  lay  down  their  jealousies  and  disputes  at  the  footstool 
of  grace,  his  language  naturally  runs  into  those  measured 
cadences  which  his  ministrations  in  the  Church  had  rendered 
habitual  with  him  when  dealing  with  such  a  subject.  .  . 
It  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  fixed  form."* 

The  deduction  which  must  be  drawn  from  the  presence 
of  this  "  memory  "  of  what  was  evidently  a  public  liturgy,  is 
that  before  the  end  of  the  first  century  there  were  fixed 
forms  of  prayer ;  if  not  written,  certainly  committed  to 
memory,  and  used  in  the  religious  assemblies  of  the  Church 
in  Rome.  Before  Clement,  the  disciple  of  Peter  and  Paul, 
had  passed  aAvay,  the  Roman  Church,  Avith  its  wide  alms- 
giving by  no  means  confined  to  the  members  of  the 
metropolitan  Church,  its  government,  its  forms  of  service, 
its  authoritative  teaching  in  all  fundamental  articles  of 
doctrine,  evidently  had  ah^eady  been  carefully  organised. 

The  especially  reverent  care  for  the  bodies  of  the  faithful 
departed  was  a  great  feature  among  the  Christians  of  the 
first  three  centuries.  We  shall  a  little  later  discuss  and 
illustrate  this  anxious  solicitude  of  Christians  for  their  dead, 
when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  cemeteries  or  catacombs. 
Already,  however,  in  the  days  of  Clement's  episcopate,  and 
even  earlier,  we  have  proofs  of  this  care  and  solicitude. 

Late    investigations   have  clearly  identified   the   catacombs 


*  Nor  is  it  only  in  the  lately  recovered  page  of  the  letter  of  Clement 
that  memories  of  a  well-known  and  often  repeated  liturgy  are  discernible. 
In  various  portions  of  the  writing,  bits  of  solemn  prayers  evidently  used  in 
the  congregation  are  woven  into  the  tapestry  of  this  most  ancient  letter  of 
the  Bishop  and  community  of  liome  to  the  Corinthian  Christian  community. 


TEE    GHUBGH   IN  ROME    AFTER    NERO.  73 

on  the  Via  Ardeatina,  hard  by  the  well-known  Appian  Way, 
as  the  cemetery  of  Domitilla.  This  cemetery  was  made  upon 
and  beneath  the  estate  of  Flavia  Domitilla,  the  kinswoman 
of  Domitian,  whose  husband,  the  former  consul,  suffered  for 
his  faith  in  the  Domitian  persecution,  when  Domitilla  herself 
was  banished.  The  cemetery  in  question  was  one  of  the 
earliest  prepared  by  wealthy  Roman  Christians  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  dead  members  of  their  own  family,  as  well  as  to 
provide  a  resting  place  for  the  remains  of  poorer  members  of 
the  Church.  Among  the  various  pieces  of  identification  of 
the  cemetery  is  the  character  of  the  adornment  of  its 
sepulchral  chambers,  which  belong  unmistakably  to  the  first 
century.  The  cemetery  of  Domitilla,  however,  is  not  the 
only  one  which  clearly  belongs  to  this  very  early  time. 

The  story  of  Clement  after  he  passed  away  came  to  be 
invested  with  a  mythical  dignity  which  is  without  example 
in  the  ante-Nicene  Church.  The  events  of  his  life  have  been 
so  strangely  involved  in  consequence  of  the  religious  romances 
which  bear  his  name  (the  Clementines,  etc.,  above  referred 
to)  that  for  the  most  part  they  must  remain  in  inextricable 
confusion."^  We  have  endeavoured  to  disentangle  something, 
separating  some  clear  facts  from  the  merely  legendary,  and 
to  present,  mainly  drawn  from  his  own  words,  just  a  few 
really  historical  records  of  this  first-century  leader  of  the 
Church  of  the  metropolis,  and  of  his  work. 

A  striking  historical  monument  of  Clement  has  recently 
been  brought  to  light.  It  was  a  custom  of  very  early  date 
in  the  Church  to  build  over  the  tomb  of  a  saint  or  martyr  a 
little  memorial  chapel  or  oratory.  This  oratory  is  frequently 
styled  the  "  Memoria."  Now  Jerome,  writing  circa  a.d.  392, 
tells  us  how  a  Church  or  Basilica  erected  at  Rome  at  the 
foot  of  the  Coelian  Hill  protects  (custodit)  the  "  Memoria " 
of  Clement.  It  was,  from  Jerome's  words,  no  very  recent 
erection.  (He  was  writing  at  the  close  of  the  fourth  century.) 
Constantly  during  the  centuries  which  followed  the  death  of 
Jerome,  we  come  upon  mentions  of  this  church  or  basilica  of 
Clement.      Late    excavations    throw   much    light     upon    this 

*  Bishop  Westcott  of  Durham,  on  the  Canon  (chap,  i.,  section  1). 


74  EARLY   GEBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

venerable  relic  of  the  famous  pupil  of  the  Apostles  Peter  and 
Paul.  It  was  found  that  three  distinct  buildings  existed ; 
one  erected  over  the  other.  Beneath  the  present  church  is 
an  earlier  basilica  in  which  the  original  columns  are  now 
standing.  This  was  the  church  of  which  Jerome  writes  in 
the  fourth  century.  It  was  built  in  the  hollow  between  the 
Ccfilian  and  Esquihne  Hills.  After  the  utter  ruin  of  large 
portions  of  the  city,  caused  by  the  storming  of  Rome  by 
Robert  Guiscard  in  the  year  1084,  the  dip  or  hollow  between 
the  two  hills  was,  in  part,  gradually  filled  up  by  the  debris 
of  the  ruins  of  that  quarter  of  the  city,  which  especially 
suffered  in  that  crushing  calamity.  As  time  went  on,  over 
the  old  basilica,  which  was  buried  beneath  the  debris  in 
question,  arose  the  "new"  church,  which  is  still  standing. 
The  new  basilica,  though  it  was  somewhat  smaller,  closely 
followed  the  lines  of  the  old  church  of  the  age  of  Constantino, 
that  of  which  Jerome  writes.  Much  of  the  stone  and  marble 
furniture  which  had  not  perished  was  brought  up  and  placed 
in  the  present  church,  which  retains  more  of  the  details  of 
primitive  church  architecture  (of  the  fourth  century)  than 
any  other  building  in  Rome.  Directly  underneath  these  two 
churches  was  found  a  third  and  yet  lower  building  (the  dis- 
covery was  in  1858-61).  This  lowest  edifice  was  partly  com- 
posed of  masonry  dating  back  to  the  regal  or  republican 
period.  But  what  was  of  the  highest  interest  in  this  third 
building  was  a  chamber,  which  the  famous  archasologist  De 
Rossi,  whose  researches  have  throAvn  so  much  light  upon  the 
Church  of  the  first  three  centuries,  believes  to  have  been  the 
original  "  Memoria  "  of  Clement.  To  the  west  of  this  chamber, 
with  its  wonderful  traditions,  was  found  another  long  vaulted 
chapel,  with  an  altar  and  other  remains,  showing  that  it  was 
once  used  for  the  worship  of  Mithras,  a  divinity  who  became, 
towards  the  end  of  the  second  and  during  the  third  century, 
a  favourite  and  fashionable  object  of  worship  in  Rome  and 
its  neighbourhood.  De  Rossi  thinks  that  this  "  chapel "  was 
once  a  part  of  the  original  house  of  Clement ;  that  it  was 
confiscated  in  one  of  the  earlier  persecutions  and  devoted  to 
the  popular  rites  of  Mithras  ;   and  that,  some  time  after   the 


THE    CHURCH   IN  ROME   AFTER   NERO.  75 

peace  of  the  Church  (a.d.  313),  it  was  restored  to  the  Church 
when  a  basihca  (the  one  spoken  of  by  Jerome)  was  erected 
over  the  original  little  "  Memoria "  *  of  Clement, 

Clement  passed  away  circa  a.d.  100,  dying,  it  would  seem, 
a  natural  death.  We  do  not  hear  anything  of  his  martrydom 
till  about  three  centuries  later. 

The  Acts  of  Clement  are  evidently  fictitious,  and  were 
probably  written  not  earlier  than  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century.  In  these  he  is  related  to  have  been  banished  to 
the  Chersonese,  where  he  suffered  martyrdom.  In  the  ninth 
century  his  bones  were  strangely  discovered,  brought  back  to 
Rome,  and  deposited  in  the  basilica  bearing  his  name.  That 
such  a  translation  of  his  "  supposed "  remains  took  place  in 
the  pontificate  of  Adrian  II.  (a.d,  867-872)  is  apparently,  how- 
ever, an  authentic  record. 

What,  then,  was  the  "  Memoria "  spoken  of  by  Jerome 
centuries  before  ?  Was  it  a  chapel,  erected  actually  over 
Clement's  remains,  or  was  it  simply  a  little  oratory  com- 
memorative of  the  great  Bishop  ?  The  former  would  seem 
more  probable  ;  in  which  case  the  first  basilica  of  Clement 
was  no  doubt  built  over  his  actual  tomb. 

*  The  word  "  Memoria  "  sometimea  alternates  with  "  Confessionary,"  being 
used  to  denote  the  small  oratory  or  chapel  built  over  the  tomb  of  a  martjT  or  saint. 
Jerome's  words  are  precise  here :  "  Nominis  ejus  (i.e.  Clement)  memoriam  usque 
hodie  Romaj  exstructa  ecclesia  custodit."  "A  church  erected  at  Eome  preserves 
to  this  day  (or  protects  to  this  day)  the  memorial  chapel  built  in  his  name."  ( Vir. 
UlustT.,  15.) 


76 


CHAPTER    IV. 

S.     JOHN     AND     POLYCARP. 
SECTION   I. — S.   JOHN, 

Among  the  first  leaders  of  the  Christian  communities  there 
were  three  teachers  of  commanding  personahty,  each  of  the 
three  having  his  own  pecuhar  characteristic  features.  Two 
of  these,  S.  Peter  and  S.  John,  had  been  with  the  Lord  during- 
the  whole  of  His  public  ministry,  and  had  especially  enjoyed 
His  friendship  and  confidence.  The  third,  S.  Paul,  although 
not  His  companion  during  the  three  years  of  His  public 
ministry,  had  been  singled  out  by  the  Holy  Spirit  shortly 
after  the  Resurrection,  and  set  apart  for  a  peculiar  and 
important  work — a  work  which  he  carried  out  during  many 
years  of  unresting  toil  with  conspicuous  devotion  and  singular 
success. 

The  career  of  two  of  these  great  teachers  was  closed,  as 
we  have  seen,  about  the  year  67-8,  in  the  course  of  the 
pei-secution  of  Nero.  The  connection  of  Peter  and  Paul  with 
the  Roman  congregation  was  very  close.  There,  in  the 
metropolis,  they  had  spent  a  considerable  time;  the  Roman 
Church  in  an  especial  way  had  been  their  care.  Peter  was 
the  traditional  founder  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  while  the 
longest  and  most  important  of  Paul's  letters  was  addressed 
to  the  Roman  Christians,  Rome  was  the  scene  of  the  close 
of  their  devoted  lives.  While  they  lived  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  great  capital  of  the  Empire  was  the  centre  of  the 
fast  growing  religion  of  Jesus. 

Peter  and  Paul  passed  away,  however,  if  not  together,  at 
all   events   at   very   nearly   the   same  ^time,   and   in  the  same 


S.    JOHN  AND    POLYGABP.  77 

fiery  trial ;  and,  after  their  death,  the  headquarters  of 
Christendom  for  a  considerable  period  was  shifted  to  another 
centre. 

The  fall  of  Jerusalem  and  the  destruction  of  the  Temple 
(a.d.  70),  some  three  or  four  years  after  the  death  of  the  two 
Apostles,  for  ever  put  an  end  to  any  claim  of  the  Holy 
City,  with  its  undying  memories,  to  be  in  any  sense  a 
Christian  centre.  We  must  seek  henceforth  another  spiritual 
capital. 

When  Peter  and  Paul  were  dead  it  was  natural  that  the 
eyes  of  Christians  in  different  parts  of  the  Roman  world 
should  be  turned  to  the  disciple  who,  along  with  them,  had 
been  ever  looked  upon  as  a  special  depository  of  the 
Lord^s  teaching;  in  some  respects  less  prominent  than  the 
two  who  had  sealed  their  long  and  faithful  witness  by  a 
death  of  pain  and  agony,  but  in  others  even  their  superior. 
John  was  some  years  younger  than  Peter  and  Paul,  of  a 
nature  more  retiring,  more  contemplative.  But  he  filled  a 
place  never  occupied  by  those  two  great  teachers ;  for  when 
Jesus  lived  on  earth  it  was  well  known  that  John  was  the 
"  Disciple  whom  the  Master  loved."  The  memory  of  that 
love  was  ever  the  peculiar  title  to  honour  of  the  third  of 
the  great  trio  who  were  the  acloiowledged  leaders  of  the 
Church  of  the  first  days;  and  when  Peter  and  Paul  were 
no  longer  on  earth  John  became  indisputably  the  central 
figure,  to  whom  all  the  Brethren  looked  for  guidance  and 
teaching. 

At  the  epoch  of  the  catastrophe  of  Jerusalem,  a.d.  70, 
John  was  in  the  Island  of  Patmos — banished,  and  probably 
a  prisoner.  But  the  banishment  and  confinement  soon  came 
to  an  end  when  the  period  of  comparative  stillness  set  in 
after  the  death  of  the  tyrant  Nero;  for  after  a.d.  70  we 
find  the  loved  Apostle  residing  at  Ephesus,  which  seems 
to  have  been  his  headquarters  during  the  thirty  years  which 
still  remained  for  him  to  live  and  work  among  men.  Ephesus 
therefore,  and  the  region  of  Asia  Minor  round  that  important 
city,  must  be  regarded  as  for  many  years  the  spiritual  centre 
of  Christendom. 


78  EARLY    CEEISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Others,  too,  of  great  reputation  among  the  Christian 
community  were  attracted  to  Asia  Minor ;  they  probably 
selected  this  populous  and  famous  district  as  their  home  in 
order  to  be  near  John.  Among  these,  trustworthy  tradition 
specially  mentions  two  brother  Apostles,  friends  of  John  in 
his  youth,  and,  like  him,  originally  fishermen  of  Bethsaida, 
Andrew  and  Philip."^  We  learn  also  from  the  same  ancient 
authority  of  two  other  personal  disciples  of  Christ  in  these 
parts — Aristion  and  a  second  John,  with  whom  Papias  had 
talked  respecting  the  human  life  of  the  Lord  and  the  earliest 
days  of  the  Church. 

In  the  city  of  Ephesus  and  its  neighbourhood,  for  some 
thirty  years  after  the  deaths  of  Peter  and  Paul  and  the 
fall  of  ^Jerusalem  (a.d.  70)  S.  John  hved,  dying  in  extreme 
old  age  about  the  last  year  of  the  first  century,  when  the 
Emperor  Trajan  was  reigning.  In  this  famous  centre  he 
gathered  round  him  many  disciples,  ordaining  bishops  and 
presbyters.  From  very  early  notices  we  possess  some 
authentic  traditions  respecting  his  busy,  active  life ;  indeed, 
the  traditions  of  S.  John,  owing  no  doubt  to  the  great 
prolongation  of  his  life  after  the  Church  was  firmly  estab- 
lished and  in  part  organised,  and  to  his  fixed  residence  in 
the  midst  of  a  large  Christian  community,  are  more  con- 
sistent and  trustworthy  than  those  which  relate  to  the  later 
life  of  any  other  of  the  Apostles. 

It  was  in  this  period  that  he  revised  his  Apocalypse, 
written  in  the  first  instance  probably  between  a.d.  68  and  70 
while  in  exile  at  Patmos.  It  is  some  such  revision  or 
redaction  by  the  Apostle  himself  to  which  Irenseus  most 
likely  refers  when  he  mentions  somewhat  vaguely  the  end 
of  Domitian's  reign  as  the  period  when  the  vision  was  seen. 
It  was,  too,  in  this  long  time  of  comparative  stillness,  when 
he   dwelt   at  Ephesus,   that   the   fourth   Gospel   was    put   out 

*  Mentioned  in  the  Muratorian  Fragment  on  the  Canon — an  authentic  piece 
dating  from  circa  a.d.  170.  This  is  quoted  at  some  length  a  little  farther  on. 
Papias  specially  alludes  to  Philip  and  his  daiighters  residing  at  Hierapolis. 
See  Eus.  H.  E.  iii.,  39,  v.  24,  Papias  was  a  companion  of  Polycarp,  and 
lived  and  wrote  early  in  the  second  century.  Some  think,  with  Irenfeus,  that 
he  was  himself  a  hearer  of  S.  John. 


S.    JOHN   AND    POLTGABP.  79 

in  the  form  in  wliich  we  now  possess  it.  The  words  of  the 
ancient  Muratorian  Canon  (circa  a.d.  170)  give  the  original 
tradition  of  how  the  first  draft  of  that  Gospel  was  suggested. 
The  exact  phraseology  of  this  venerable  fragment  of  early 
Christian  literature  is  peculiarly  interesting. 

"  The  fourth  Gospel  is  (the  work)  of  John,  one  of  the 
disciples.  Being  exhorted  by  his  fellow- disciples  and  Bishops, 
he  said:  'Fast  with  me  to-day  for  three  days,  and  let  us 
relate  to  one  another  what  shall  have  been  revealed  to  each.' 
The  same  night  it  was  revealed  to  Andrew,  one  of  the 
Apostles,  that  'John  should  write  down  everything  in  his 
own  name,  and  all  should  certify'  .  .  .  ." 

The  narrative  portion  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  great  theo- 
logical truths  enshrined  in  it,  had  doubtless  often  formed 
part  of  S.  John's  teaching  in  public  and  in  private.  The 
Gospel  according  to  S.  John,  arranged  as  we  now  have  it, 
embodying  as  it  does  a  summary  of  the  great  Apostle's 
teaching  respecting  the  Person  and  Office  of  the  Lord,  was 
the  result  of  much  toil  and  thought,  and  was  the  great 
monument  of  the  prolonged  life  at  Ephesus. 

The  Muratorian  fragment  above  referred  to  proceeds  to 
quote  John's  own  words  in  his  first  Epistle :  "  What  we  have 
seen  with  our  eyes  and  heard  with  our  ears,  and  our  hands 
have  handled,  these  things  we  have  written  unto  you."  He 
thus  declares  himself  to  be  not  only  an  eye-witness  and  a 
hearer,  but  also  a  recorder  of  all  the  wonderful  things  of  the 
Lord  in  order.* 

Any  personal  memories  of  S.  John  at  this  period  are  of 
rare  interest.  Three  of  these  are  preserved  to  us  in  un- 
doubtedly authentic  documents.  Irenaeus,  writing  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  second  century,  gives  us  some  of  his  memories 

*  The  "Muratorian  Fragment"  was  discovered  in  the  Ambrosian  Library  at 
Milan  in  a  MS.  of  the  ■works  of  Chrysostom  of  great  antiquity.  It  is  mutilated  at 
the  beginning  and  the  end,  and  is  an  unskilful  translation  of  a  letter  from  a  lost 
Greek  original.  It  is  a  piece  of  the  highest  importance.  Its  date  is  shown  by  a 
reference  to  Poje  Pius  I.,  and  must  be  placed  circa  a.d.  170.  Internal  evidence 
fully  confii  iis  its  claim  to  this  high  antiquity  ;  and  scholars  generally  regard  it  as 
a  summary  of  the  opinion  of  the  Western  Church  on  the  New  Testament  Canon 
shortlj'  after  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 


80  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  his  old  master  Polycarp.  Polycarp,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, was  a  hearer  and  disciple  of  S.  John.  He  relates 
how  Polycarp  used  to  describe  to  his  pupils  his  intercourse 
with  John,  and  with  the  rest  of  those  who  had  seen  the 
Lord,  and  how  he  would  relate  his  very  words.^ 

Another  of  these  memories  of  S.  John  is  also  given  us 
by  Irenteus,  speaking  again  of  his  old  master  Polycarp. 
"  There  are  those  who  have  heard  him  (Polycarp)  tell  how 
John  the  disciple  of  the  Lord,  when  he  went  to  take  a 
bath  at  Ephesus,  and  when  he  saw  Cerinthus  [the  famous 
heretical  teacher]  within,  rushed  away  from  the  room  with- 
out bathing,  with  the  words  'Let  us  flee  lest  the  room 
should  fall  in,  for  Cerinthus,  the  enemy  of  the  truth,  is 
within.' "  t  The  old  fiery  spirit  of  the  "  Son  of  Thunder," 
Boanerges,  as  the  Lord  once  termed  him  and  his  brother 
long  years  before,  still  lived  evidently  in  the  old  man  John. 

One  more  striking  memory  of  S.  John's  life  at  Ephesus 
is  preserved  to  us  by  Clement  of  Alexandria,  who  also 
wrote  about  the  end  of  the  same  century  (the  second).  It 
is  too  long  for  quotation,  but  it  gives  a  graphic  description 
of  a  young  convert  to  Christianity  who  had  fallen  away, 
had  taken  to  evil  courses,  and  had  become  a  robber.  John 
seeks  him  out  in  the  midst  of  the  robber  horde,  and 
with  touching  reproaches  wins  him  back  again,  telling  the 
apostate  how  he  had  found  pardon  for  him  in  his  prayers 
at  the  hands  of  Christ.  Clement  relates  the  story,  em- 
phatically prefacing  it  with  the  words :  "  Listen  to  a  story 
that  is  no  fiction  but  a  real  history  handed  down,  and  care- 
fully preserved,  respectmg  the  Apostle  John."  J 


SECTION   II. — S.    POLYCARP. 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  S.  John,  at  the  close  of  the 
first  century,  we  gather  some  weighty  materials  for  the 
history  of  the  Church  in  the  writings,  undoubtedly  authentic, 

*  Letter  of  Irenieus  to  Florinus.     Eusebius,  H.  E.,  v.  20,     (See  p.  83  infra.) 

f  Ireuceus,  Adv.  Saer.,  iii.  3. 

X  See  Eusebius,  S.  E.,  iii.  23.     Clem.  Alex.,  Quis  dives  salv.,  42. 


S.    JOHN  AND    POLYCABP.  81 

Avhich    we   possess    of    two   eminent   Christian   teachers,    both 
younger  contemporaries  of  the  Apostle. 

The  elder  of  these,  Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  we  leave 
for  the  moment,  since  his  famous  letters  are  well  nigh  all  that 
we  possess  of  his  history. 

The  other,  Polycarp,  Bishop  of  Smyrna  and  disciple  of 
John,  occupies  in  the  annals  of  early  Christianity  a  pecuHar 
and  commanding  position.  This  he  owes  partly  to  his  long 
and  distinguished  career,  partly  to  the  "  Memories  "  preserved 
to  us  by  his  great  disciple  Irengeus,  Bishop  of  Lyons  in  Gaul 
and  by  others;  partly,  of  course,  also,  to  his  own  interesting 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  and  to  the  letter  written  after  his 
death  by  his  Smyrnaean  flock  to  the  Church  of  Philomelium, 
containing  details  of  his  martyrdom ;  both  of  which  *'  pieces " 
are  considered  by  all  serious  critics  as  undoubtedly  genuine. 

Polycarp  was  born  about  the  year  69-70.  He  evidently 
belonged  to  a  Christian  family,  and  was  brought  up  in  that 
district  of  Asia  Minor  where  the  influence  of  S.  John  was 
paramount,  but  where  other  eminent  Christian  leaders,  besides 
S,  John,  were  residing — men  who  had  personally  known  the 
Lord.  When  S.  John  died,  Polycarp  was  only  about  thirty 
years  old.  Irenseus  tells  us  he  received  his  appointment  as 
Bishop  of  the  important  congregation  of  Smyrna  from  Apostles ; 
and  other  writers,  e.g.  Tertullian,  not  much  later  than  Irenseus, 
say  distinctly  that  he  was  appointed  to  his  responsible  office 
by  S.  John  himself 

At  an  early  period  of  his  public  career  (circa  a.d.  107-9), 
Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  on  his  journey  to  his  Roman 
martyrdom,  writes  to  Polycarp,  already  Bishop  of  Smyrna. 
The  spirit  of  this  letter — one  of  the  now  generally  acknow- 
ledged genuine  Ignatian  epistles — is  what  we  should  expect 
from  an  old  man  writing  to  a  younger  one  who  was  holding 
a  position  of  great  responsibility,  and  had  proved  himself, 
in  spite  of  his  comparative  3'outh,  to  be  worthy  of  his  high 
and  dangerous  post,  but  who  yet  evidently,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  martyr,  had  faults  which  he  might  correct. 

He  charges  his  younger  friend  in  the  following  language  : 
"  Vindicate    thine    office    in    all    diligence,  whether   m   things 

G 


82  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

carnal  or  in  things  spiritual.  Have  a  care  for  unity,  than 
which  nothing  is  better.  Sustain  all  men,  even  as  the  Lord 
sustaineth  thee.  Suffer  all  men  in  love,  as  also  thou  dost 
.  .  .  Ask  for  more  Avisdom  than  thou  hast  .  .  .  The  time 
requireth  thee,  as  pilots  require  winds,  or  as  a  storm-tossed 
mariner  a  haven,  so  that  it  may  find  God  ...  Be  sober  as 
God's  athlete  .  .  .  stand  firm  as  an  anvil  under  the  stroke  of 
a  hammer.  It  becomes  a  great  athlete  to  endure  blows  and 
to  conquer." 

Of  the  circle  of  disciples  and  pupils  whom  S.  John  during 
his  long  residence  at  Ephesus  gathered  round  him,  Polycarp 
was  the  most  illustrious.  Indeed,  after  the  passing  away  of 
the  loved  Apostle,  at  an  advanced  age,  he  was  perhaps  one 
of  the  most  important  persons  in  the  Church. 

Long  years  afterwards  it  was  the  delight  of  the  Bishop 
of  Smyrna  to  relate  to  his  disciples  and  hearers  what  he 
had  heard  from  eye-witnesses  of  the  Lord's  earthly  life;  and 
especially  he  seems  to  have  loved  to  dwell  on  his  friendship 
and  intercourse  with  John  the  beloved.  Before  Polycarp 
died  even  unbelievers  had  come  to  look  upon  the  venerable 
Bishop  of  Smyrna  as  the  Father  of  Christians. 

Iren^us,  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Christian  writers  of  the 
second  century,  who  became  Bishop  of  Lyons  in  a.d.  177. 
received  his  early  instruction  at  the  hands  of  Polycarp,  and 
in  a  passage  in  one  of  his  writings  of  singular  interest,  gives 
us  a  picture  of  his  great  master.  It  occurs  in  a  letter  to  an 
old  comrade  and  fellow  pupil,  one  Florinus,  who  in  later 
life  had  become  unhappily  famous  as  a  heretical  leader. 
Irenseus  is  remonstrating  with  his  old  friend  after  his  falling 
away  in  the  following  terms :  "  These  opinions,  Florinus, 
that  I  may  speak  without  harshness,  are  not  of  sound  judg- 
ment ;  these  opinions  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  Church, 
but  involve  those  adopting  them  in  the  greatest  impiety 
.  .  .  these  opinions  the  elders  before  us,  who  were  also 
disciples  of  the  Apostles,  did  not  hand  down  to  thee.  For 
I  saw  thee,  when  I  was  still  a  youth  in  Lower  Asia,  in 
company  with  Polycarp,  while  thou  wast  faring  prosperously 
in  the  royal  court,  and  endeavouring  to  stand  well  with  him 


S.    JOHN   AND   POLY  CARP.  83 

(Polycarp).  For  I  distinctly  remember  the  incidents  of  that 
time  better  than  events  of  recent  occurrence  ;  for  the  lessons 
received  in  childhood,  growing  with  the  growth  of  the  soul, 
became  identified  with  it;  so  that  I  can  describe  the  very 
place  in  which  the  blessed  Polycarp  used  to  sit  when  he 
discoursed,  and  his  goings  out  and  his  comings  in,  and  his 
manner  of  life,  and  his  personal  appearance,  and  the  dis- 
courses which  he  held  before  the  people,  and  how  he  would 
describe  his  intercourse  with  John  and  with  the  rest  who 
had  seen  the  Lord,  and  how  he  would  relate  their  words, 
And  whatsoever  things  he  had  heard  from  them  about  the 
Lord,  and  about  His  miracles  and  about  His  teaching,  Poly- 
carp, as  having  received  these  from  eye-witnesses  of  the 
life  of  the  Word,  would  relate  altogether  in  accordance  with 
the  ScriptLU-e.  To  these  (discourses)  I  could  listen  at  the 
time  with  attention,  by  God's  mercy  which  was  bestowed 
upon  me,  noting  them  down,  not  on  paper,  but  in  my  heart : 
and  by  the  grace  of  God,  I  constantly  ruminate  upon  them 
faithfully.  And  I  can  testify  in  the  sight  of  God,  that  if 
the  blessed  and  Apostolic  elder  had  heard  anything  of  this 
kind "  (alluding  here  to  the  heresy  of  Florinus  he  was 
writing  about)  "he  would  have  cried  out,  and  stopped  his 
ears,  and  said  after  his  wont,  '  0  good  God,  for  what  times 
hast  Thou  kept  me,  that  I  should  endure  such  things  ? ' 
and  would  even  have  fled  from  the  place  where  he  was 
sitting  or  standing,  when  he  heard  such  words.  And  indeed 
this  can  be  shown  from  his  letters  which  he  wrote  to  the 
neighbouring  Churches  for  their  confirmation,  or  to  certain 
of  the  brethren  for  their  warning  and  exhortation."* 

Far  and  wide  extended  the  work  of  this  great  early 
teacher  of  Christianity.  The  flourishing  and  powerful  Church 
of  Gaul,  which  we  shall  have  to  speak  of  later  as  one  of 
the  most  sorely  tried  by  persecution,  was  the  daughter  of 
the  Asian  Church  where  Polycarp  for  so  many  years  exercised 
so  predominant  an  influence.  Irenseus,  whom  we  have  just 
quoted,  became  Bishop  of  the  important  Gallican  see  of 
Lyons   in   a.d.    177,   in  succession  to  the  aged  Pothinus,  who 

*  Eusebius,  H.  E.,  v.  20. 


84  EARLY   GHBISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

suffered  martyrdom  in  the  persecution  which  raged  in  the 
Churches  of  Lyons  and  Vienne  when  Marcus  Antoninus 
was  Emperor.  The  circular  letter  from  Gaul  giving  the 
graphic  account  of  the  martyrdom  of  the  saints  of  Lyons 
and  Vienne,  so  well  known  to  students  of  early  Christian 
literature,  was  addressed  to  the  brethren  in  Phrygia  and 
"  Asia,"  and  shows  how  close  was  the  link  which  bound  the 
two  distant  countries  together.  Christian  Gaul,  when  it  sent 
the  pathetic  recital  of  the  sufferings  of  its  martyrs  in  the 
arena,  was  assured,  it  writes,  of  the  deep  sympathy  of  the 
older  Christian  communities. 

"  The  veneration  of  Christians  for  Polycarp  was  unbounded. 
His  Apostolic  training,  his  venerable  age,  his  long  hours  spent 
in  prayer,  his  personal  holiness,  all  combined  to  secure  him 
this  reverence.  By  the  heathen,  as  we  have  noticed,  he  was 
regarded  as  the  '  Father  of  the  Christians.'  They  singled  him 
out  as  the  one  man  who  had  dethroned  their  gods,  and 
robbed  them  of  the  sacrifices  and  the  adoration  of  their 
worshippers.  More  especially  did  he  seem  gifted  with  a 
singular  prescience.  It  was  even  believed  that  nothing  which 
he  foretold  ever  failed  of  accomplishment ;  but  far  more  im- 
portant to  the  Church  than  his  predictions  of  the  future 
were  his  memories  of  the  past.  In  him  one  single  link  con- 
nected the  earthly  life  of  Christ  with  the  close  of  the  second 
century,  though  five  or  six  generations  had  intervened.  S. 
John,  Polycarp,  Irenseus — this  was  the  succession  which 
guaranteed  the  continuity  of  the  Evangelical  record  and  of 
the  Apostolic  teaching.  The  long  life  of  S.  John,  followed 
by  the  long  life  of  Polycarp,  had  secured  this  result."  * 

Far  on  in  his  busy,  beautiful  life,  Polycarp,  then  acknow- 
ledged, as  Irenteus  tells  us,  as  the  most  venerable  personage 
in  Christendom,  paid  a  visit  to  Rome.  There  were  many 
subjects  of  information  on  which  it  was  desirable  that  one 
who  had  been  a  pupil  of  S.  John  should  confer  with  Anicetus, 
the  honoured  chief  of  the  great  community  of  Christians 
resident  in  the  metropoHs  of  the  Empire. 

One    of  these    subjects   especially   exercised   the  minds   of 

*  Bishop  Liglitfoot :    Igoiatius  and  Folyearp,  vol.  i.  1,  pp.  473-4. 


S.    JOHN  AND    POLYGABP.  85 

believers.  Christians  were  curiously  divided  on  the  question  as 
to  the  correct  time  when  the  Easter  festival  should  be  cele- 
brated. Two  opinions  were  held ;  the  one,  for  which  Polycarp 
pleaded  the  practice  of  S.  John  and  of  other  Apostles  with 
whom,  in  his  early  days,  he  had  been  associated,  maintained 
that  the  Paschal  Su23per  the  evening  before  the  Passion  of 
the  Lord,  should  be  celebrated  after  the  Jewish  custom  on 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first  (Jewish)  month  (Nisan)  ;  and 
three  days  later,  without  regard  to  the  day  of  the  week,  the 
feast  of  the  Resurrection  was  kept.  Rome  and  other  Western 
Churches,  however,  held  it  unlawful  to  interrupt  the  fast  of 
the  Holy  Week,  or  to  celebrate  the  Resurrection  on  any 
other  day  than  the  first  day  of  the  week.  Their  Easter  con- 
sequently was  always  on  a  Sunday.  The  Asiatic  or  quarto 
deciman  practice,  as  it  was  termed,  was  advocated  by  Polycarp 
on  the  authority  of  S.  John  and  of  the  Apostles,  who  in  their 
later  lives  had  lived  in  Asia  Minor.  That  of  Rome  was  ad- 
vocated by  Anicetus  (Bishop  of  Rome)  on  the  authority  of 
S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul,  who  had  lived  and  taught  long  in  the 
great  metropolis.  Again  and  again  this  curious  divergence 
of  opinion  on  the  question  as  to  the  day  on  which  the  great 
Church  festival  should  be  kept,  cropped  up  and  divided  the 
Church.^ 

Polycarp,  however,  without  yielding  the  point,  did  not 
allow  the  difference  in  ritualistic  usage  for  an  instant  to 
interfere  with  his  cordial  relations  with  Anicetus  and  the 
Roman  Church.  And  Anicetus  followed  his  conciHatory  ex- 
ample and  allowed  Polycarp,  in  token  of  an  unbroken  friend- 
ship, to  celebrate  the  Eucharist  in  his  place. 

Very   different,   however,   was    the   procedure   of  the  great 

*  The  quarto  deciman,  or  Jewish  practice  maintained  by  Polycarp  and  other 
distinguished  Christian  leaders,  notably  by  Polycrates,  Bishop  of  Ephesus,  in  his 
controversy  with  Victor,  Bishop  of  Rome  {circa  a.d.  197),  was  finally  given  up  by 
a  decision  of  the  Council  of  Nicea  a.d.  325,  which  ruled  that  Easter  should  be 
kept  on  one  and  the  same  day  throughout  the  Christian  world,  viz.  on  the  Sunday, 
the  first  day  of  the  week.  But  the  cycle  by  which  the  Easter  festival  was  to  be 
calculated  was  not  agreed  upon ;  hence  the  discrepancy  in  the  date  of  the  Easter 
festival,  which  was  one  of  the  points  disputed  between  the  Church  of  Eome  and 
the  ancient  British  Church. 


86  EARLY    CRBTSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Asian  Bishop,  the  pupil  of  S.  John,  during  his  Roman  visit, 
when  graver  questions  respecting  fundamental  doctrine  were 
brought  before  him.  He  could,  and  did,  place  on  one  side  as 
comparatively  unimportant,  divergence  in  ritual  and  in  mere 
observances — for  which  divergence,  be  it  noted,  evidence  on 
both  sides  was  alleged.  These  things,  thought  the  aged 
disciple  of  the  Apostles,  should  never  be  allowed  to  interfere 
with  the  loving  intercommunion  of  the  Christian  Brother- 
hood. But  when  heresy  which  affected  the  Person  and  Work 
of  the  Lord  was  in  question,  Polycarp  could,  and  did,  show 
himself  the  stern,  uncompromising  teacher  of  the  truth.  Let 
us  listen  again  to  Irena^us'  account  of  Polycarp  here,  in  his 
own  vivid  and  soul-inspiring  language :  "  And  so  it  was  with 
Polycarp  also,  who  was  not  only  taught  by  Apostles  and  lived 
in  familiar  intercourse  with  many  that  had  seen  Christ,  but 
also  received  his  appointment  in  Asia  from  Apostles,  as 
Bishop  of  the  Church  of  Smyrna;  whom  we  too  have  seen 
in  our  early  years ;  for  he  survived  long,  and  departed  this 
life  at  a  very  great  age  by  a  glorious  and  most  notable 
martyrdom  ;  having  ever  taught  those  very  things  which  he 
had  learnt  from  the  Apostles,  which  the  Church  hands  down, 
and  which  alone  are  true.  To  this,  testimony  is  borne  by  all 
the  Churches  in  Asia,  and  by  the  successors  up  to  the  present 
time,"  (circa  a.d.  170-80)  "  of  Polycarp,  who  was  a  much 
more  trustworthy  and  safe  witness  of  the  truth  than  Valen- 
tinus  or  Marcion "  (famous  Gnostic  teachers)  "  and  all  such 
wrong-minded  men.  He  also "  (Polycarp)  "  when  on  a  visit  to 
Rome  in  the  days  of  Anicetus,  converted  many  to  the  Church 
of  God  from  following  the  aforenamed  heretics,  by  preaching 
that  which  he  had  received  from  the  Apostles,  that  doctrine 
and  that  only  which  was  handed  do^vn  by  the  Church  as  the 
truth." 

(Here  Irenreus  tells  the  story  of  the  horror  of  S.  John 
when  he  met  at  the  bath  at  Ephesus  the  Gnostic  Cerinthus.) 
"  Yea,  and  Polycarp  himself,  also,  when  Marcion  on  one 
occasion  confronted  him  and  said :  '  Do  you  recognise  me  ? ' 
Polycarp  replied,  '  Yes,  yes ;  I  recognise  the  first-born  of  Satan.' 
So  great  care  did  the  Apostles  and  their  disciples  take  not  to 


8.    JOHN  AND    POLYGABP.  87 

hold  any  communication  even  by  word  with  any  of  those 
who  falsify  the  truth.  As  Paul  also  said,  '  A  man  that  is  a 
heretic,  after  a  first  and  second  admonition,  avoid,  knowing 
that  such  an  one  is  perverted  and  sinneth,  being  self- 
condemned.'  "  * 

Rome,  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  was  the 
common  rendezvous  of  Christian  teachers,  orthodox  and 
heretical,  from  all  countries;  and  Irenseus  here  tells  us  how 
Polycarp,  in  the  course  of  his  memorable  Roman  visit,  met 
with  the  eminent  leaders  of  the  widespread  Gnostic  heresy, 
and  what  he  thought  of  them. 

As  a  writer  this  great  early  Christian  leader  was  in  no  way 
remarkable.     Polycarp  was  clearly  inferior  here  to  Clement  of 
Rome   or   to   Ignatius.      We   possess   of  his   writings  but  one 
epistle  of  undoubted   authenticity,   addressed   by   him   to   the 
Philippian  Church.     The  scanty  rehques  of  our  early  Christian 
literature   include    no    theological    treatise   by   him.      He   was 
rather  a  man  of  action  than  of  contemplation ;  a  great  organiser ; 
a  devoted  pastor;  an  unwearied  shepherd  of  an  ever-growing 
and  often  sorely  harassed  flock.     These  were  Polycarp's  titles 
to  honour.      The  one  solitary  epistle  of  his  which  has  come 
down    to    us    possesses    the    highest  value   as   an   undoubted 
document  of  very  early  Christian  literature,  but  as  a  literary 
production  it  does  not  rank  high.     It  is  remarkable  from  the 
number  of  its  quotations  from  Apostles'  writings.     Short  as  it  is, 
it  contains  striking  coincidences  with,  or  plain  references   to, 
as  many  as  some  twenty  or  more  passages  from  the  writings  of 
Paul   and   Peter  and   other   documents   now  included   in   our 
New    Testament    Canon.      S.    Paul   especially  is    quoted    and 
referred    to.       Polycarp    mentions     him    by    name,     placing 
himself  on   a  much   lower    level    than    the    revered   Apostle 
of  the  Gentiles.      His  words  here  are  specially  interesting  as 
an  indication  of  the  exalted  estimate  formed,  by  the  responsible 
Christian  chiefs  of  the  second  generation,  of  the  original  band 
of    Apostles,    among    whom    Paul    is    reckoned.     Polycarp    is 
apologising  for  writing  an  official  letter  at  all  to  the  PhUippian 
Church ;  he  only  ventured  to  do  it,  he  says,  on  their  "  special 

*  Irena3us,  Adv.  Haer.,  iii.  3-4. 


88  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

invitation,"  "  For  neither  am  I,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  nor  is 
any  other  Hke  me,  able  to  follow  the  wisdom  of  the  blessed 
and  glorious  Paul  who,  when  he  came  among  you "  (the 
Philippians)  "taught  face  to  face  with  the  men  of  that  day, 
the  word  which  concerneth  truth,  carefully  and  surely ;  who 
also,  when  he  was  absent,  wrote  a  letter  to  you,  into  which  if 
you  look  diligently,  ye  shall  be  able  to  be  builded  up  unto 
the  faith  given  to  you,  which  is  the  mother  of  us  all."* 

Very  emphatically  and  simply  does  Polycarp  in  this  little 
letter  affirm  the  great  Evangelical  truth  of  the  work  of  Jesus 
Christ.  "Let  us,"  he  says,  "hold  fast  by  our  hope  .  .  . 
which  is  Jesus  Christ,  Who  took  up  our  sins  in  His  own  body 
on  the  tree." 

With  great  force  he  expresses  his  views  of  the  Godhead 
of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Twicet  near  the  close  of  the  letter  he 
speaks  of  Jesus  as  God.  The  second  reference  is  a  striking 
one.  "  May  He  grant  unto  you  a  lot  and  portion  among 
His  saints,  and  to  us  with  you  .  .  .  who  shall  believe  on  our 
Lord  and  God  Jesus  Christ,  and  on  His  Father  that  raised 
Him  from  the  dead." 

This  eminent  Christian  teacher  of  the  Church  of  the 
early  and  middle  years  of  the  second  century,  in  some  of 
the  concluding  words  of  his  epistle,  shows  us,  like  Clement, 
who  wrote  from  Rome  some  twelve  or  fourteen  years  before, 
how  an  unswerving  loyalty  to  the  Roman  Government  was 
enjoined  upon  Christian  congregations ;  although  part  of  the 
same  letter  treated  of  victims  of  the  Imperial  policy,  of  the 
martyred  Paul  and  Ignatius,  and  other  less  known  sufferers ; 
while  in  the  end  the  writer  of  the  loyal  words  himself  joined 
the  same  noble  army.  "Pray,"  wrote  Polycarp  (c,  12),  "for 
kings,  and  powers,  and  princes,  and  for  them  that  persecute 
you  and  hate  you." 

This  sole  surviving  letter  of  Polycarp  to  the  Philippian 
Church  must  have  been  written  as  early  as  a.d.  108-10. 

The  end  of  that  earnest,  useful  life,  so  long  protracted,  came 
at  last,  very  soon  after  Polycarp   returned   from   Rome,  circa 

*  Polj-carp,  FML,  3.  t  Polycarp,  FhiL,  12. 


S.   JOH^''  AND    POLYGABP.  89 

A.D.  157.*  One  of  those  many  persecutions,  some  of  them 
general,  some  of  them  confined  to  certain  locahties,  which 
harassed  Christians  more  or  less  all  through  the  first  and 
second  centuries,  was  raging  in  the  populous  district  of 
Asia  Minor  of  which  Smyrna  was  a  principal  centre.  The 
Christians  of  Proconsular  Asia  had  markedly  increased  in 
number  by  the  middle  of  the  second  century.  In  that 
Province,  owing  no  doubt  to  the  influence  of  the  school  of 
S.  John,  of  which,  as  we  have  seen,  Polycarp  was  the  most 
distinguished  representative,  some  writers  even  consider  that 
by  the  middle  of  the  second  century  well  nigh  half  the 
population  t  was  Christian.  Fierce  and  uncontrollable 
jealousy  of  the  Christians  was,  however,  now  and  again 
excited  among  the  Pagan  inhabitants,  among  the  many 
especially  who  lived  by  the  worship  at  the  heathen  shrines — 
priests,  tradesmen,  craftsmen,  and  others  connected  with  the 
widespread  network,  partly  political,  partly  religious,  of  the 
ancient  idolatrous  cult.  Such  interested  persons,  probably 
very  numerous,  easily  fomented  a  popular  disturbance,  and 
forced  the  Roman  magistracy,  often  against  their  will,  to 
take  action  against  the  obnoxious  Christians ;  to  set  in 
force  the  State  edicts  which  treated  the  members  of  the 
Christian  community  as  enemies  of  the  State,  and  as  liable 
to  the  severest  punishment.  Such  a  state  of  things  prevailed 
at  Sm3n'na  circa  a.d.  157,  when  the  inhabitants  of  Asia 
Minor  were  celebrating  the  great  anniversary  festival  in 
that  city.  A  vigorous  persecution  of  the  Christians  began. 
Eleven  of  the  more  prominent  were  condemned  to  the  wild 
beasts,  and  suffered  in  the  public  arena.  The  passions  of  the 
easily  excited  populace  were  stirred  up  by  the  bloody  sight, 
and  the  cry  arose,  "Death  to  the  Atheists.  Let  search  be 
made  for  Polycarp  their  chief" 

The   story  of  the  events  which  followed  is  told  in  simple 

*  In  order  to  complete  our  picture  of  the  life  of  this  great  early  leader  of  the 
Christians,  for  which  we  possess  such  considerable  authentic  details,  we  have  passed 
over  a  long  and  important  stretch  of  time,  to  which  we  shall  of  course  return. 
But  Polycarp's  life  extended  into  the  'fifties  of  the  second  century. 

t  So  Kenan  :  L'Eglise  Chretiennc,  p.  432.  This  estimate  is,  however,  probably 
far  too  hiofh. 


90  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

pathetic  language  in  a  letter  written  immediately  after  the 
tragedy  by  the  Church  of  Smyrna  to  the  Church  of  Philo- 
melium,  a  small  town  with  an  earnest  and  devoted  con- 
gregation of  believers,  situated  some  two  hundred  miles  or 
more  to  the  east  of  Smyrna  on  the  borders  of  the  Province 
of  Proconsular  Asia,  not  far  from  Pisidian  Antioch. 

The  letter  of  the  Church  of  Smyrna  to  the  Christians 
of  Philomelium  is  of  undoubted  authenticity.  What  has 
been  well  termed  "  the  feverish  and  restless  criticism "  of 
late  days  has  failed  to  shake  the  general  confidence  of 
scholars  in  its  genuineness.  One  of  the  leading  critics'^  of  a 
school  bitterly  hostile  to  Christianity  does  not  hesitate  to 
accept  it,  and  describes  it  in  characteristic  language:  "This 
beautiful  piece  constitutes  the  most  ancient  example  known 
of  all  the  'Acts  of  Martyrdom.'  It  was  the  model  which  was 
imitated,  and  which  furnished  the  procedure  and  the 
essential  parts  of  this  species  of  composition." 

Polycarp — we  follow  the .  recital  in  the  letter  to  the  Philo- 
mehans — when  these  bloody  games  were  being  played  in  the 
Smyrna  arena,  had  retired  into  the  country  at  some  distance 
from  the  city.  His  whereabouts  was  disclosed  to  the 
Imperial  police,  who  proceeded  to  arrest  the  aged  Bishop. 
The  old  man  might  even  then  have  escaped,  but  he  dis- 
dained to  fly,  saying  simply,  "  God's  will  be  done."  His 
guards  evidently  sympathised  with  him.  He  had  long  been 
a  well  known  and  venerated  personage  in  Smyrna.  They 
did  not  hurry  him,  but  granted  his  request  to  be  allowed 
to  pray  before  accompanying  them.  For  two  hours,  so  says 
the  recital  in  the  letter,  he  talked  with  God,  remembering 
in  that  solemn  moment  all  who  had  ever  come  in  his  way, 
small  and  great,  high  and  low.  The  officials,  after  he  had 
finished  his  long  prayer,  seated  the  old  man  on  an  ass,  and 
so  brought  him  to  the  city.  There  the  captain  of  the  police 
and  his  father  met  him,  and  taking  Polj^carp  into  their 
carriage,  tried  to  prevail  upon  him  to  acknowledge  Csesar 
as  "  Lord,"  and  to  offer  incense  at  his  shrine,  but  he  refused. 

They  conducted  him   into    the    theatre   where  the  games 

*  Renan :    V^glise  Chreiienne,  ch..  xxiii.,  pp.  462-3. 


S.   JOHN  AND   POLYOAEP.       '  91 

were  being  held,  but  the  combats  with  wild  beasts  were  over. 
A  great  uproar  arose  as  the  old  man  was  led  in. 

A  voice,  which  some  thought  came  from  above,  cried  out, 
"  Polycarp,  be  strong  and  play  the  man."  But  he  needed 
no  such  reminder.  Death  had  no  terrors  for  the  aged 
Christian  "athlete."  The  solemn  moment  to  him  was  an 
mtense  joy  and  delight.  Very  urgently  the  proconsul,  who 
was  evidently  loth  to  proceed  to  extreme  measures  in  the 
case  of  one  so  loved  and  venerated,  urged  him  to  avail 
himself  of  the  easy  method  of  deliverance  provided  by  the 
Roman  Government ;  all  he  had  to  do,  said  the  magistrate, 
was  to  say,  "  Away  with  the  Atheists,"  and  to  swear  by  the 
"  Genius  of  Csesar." 

Polycarp,  looking  up,  away  from  the  shrieking  multitude 
and  the  ensigns  of  Imperial  Rome,  solemnly  replied,  "Yes, 
away  with  Atheists."  Then  the  proconsul  thought  he  had 
jnelded.  "Swear,  as  I  have  told  you,  Polycarp,  by  the  genius 
of  the  Emperor,  and  revile  Christ,  and  I  will  at  once  set 
you  free."  "  Revile  Christ  ? "  replied  the  brave  old  Bishop. 
"  Eighty  and  six  years  have  I  served  Him,  and  He  hath 
done  me  no  wrong.  How  can  I  say  evil  things  of  my  King 
Avho  saved  me  ? " 

Then  the  proconsul,  perhaps  reluctantly,  announced  that 
Polycarp  had  confessed  himself  a  Christian.  The  concourse 
present  shouted,  "  To  the  Hons  with  him."  The  president  ot 
the  games,  the  Asiarch  Phihp,  said  that  would  be  impossible, 
for  the  "  wild  beasts  "  part  of  the  great  show  was  over.  The 
crowd  cried,  "  Then  burn  him." 

With  cruel  rapidity  the  enemies  of  the  Christians  collected 
the  materials  for  the  fire;  quickly  the  death-pyre  was  heaped 
up,  and  Polycarp,  throwing  aside  his  cloak  and  girdle,  allowed 
himself  to  be  bound  to  the  stake.  Then  the  old  man 
prayed,  and  his  words  were  words  of  praise  and  thanksgiving, 
and  the  wood  was  lighted  and  presently  blazed  up. 

There  is  little  if  anything  of  the  marvellous  and  super- 
natural in  the  touching,  simple  story.  Some  have  thought 
a  Divine  interposition  was  visible  in  the  action  of  the  high 
wind,   which   wafted   the  flames   aside,  leaving   the   martyr  in 


92  EARLY   GERISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

the  midst,  while  the  fire,  Hke  the  bellying  sail  of  a  ship, 
arched  itself  around  him.  But  such  a  phenomenon'^  involves 
no  miracle ;  the  like  has  been  seen  in  other  scenes  of  burning. 
The  voice  bidding  Polycarp  "  be  strong  and  play  the  man " 
when  he  appeared  before  the  assembly  of  the  people  in  the 
stadium,  no  doubt  proceeded  from  one  of  the  bystanders. 
The  dove  which  apparently  issued  from  the  wounded  side 
of  the  martyr  can  also  be  explained.  A  bird  hastily  flying 
across  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  sufferer,  in  the 
heated  imagination  of  the  bystanders  could  easily  be  con- 
strued as  a  miraculous  sign.  The  sweet  scent,  as  of  incense, 
which  was  said  to  have  issued  from  the  burning  pyre,  was 
probably  the  perfume  of  some  of  the  wood  which  was  piled 
up  round  the  stake ;  especially  as  we  read  how  the  hostile 
Jews  and  other  enemies  of  the  Christian  hastily  gathered 
together  timber  and  wood  from  different  workshops  and 
baths  in  the  city. 

Indeed,  the  comparative  absence  of  the  supernatural  in 
the  narrative,  very  different  from  many  other  records  of  the 
death  of  early  Christian  martyrs,  or  even  of  the  passions  of 
more  recent  sufferers  for  religion,  is  in  itself  a  strong  argu- 
ment for  the  genuineness  of  the  document. 

The  sufferings  of  the  noble  victim  were  not  protracted ; 
when  the  officials  saw  that  the  fire,  from  one  cause  or  other, 
failed  to  do  its  work,  the  officer  of  the  arena,  whose  special 
duty  it  was  to  despatch  wounded  and  dying  beasts,  was  sum- 
moned to  complete  the  work ;  he  pierced  the  old  man 
with  a  dagger  in  a  mortal  place,  and  death  speedily  followed. 

The  Christians,  the  story  goes  on  to  say,  were  anxious  to 
secure  the  hallowed  remains  of  their  sainted  Bishop,  but  the 
Jews  prevented  them ;  and  the  centurion  in  command,  to 
prevent  a  tumult,  allowed  the  body  to  be  consumed  in  the 
tardy  flames  of  the  pyre.  The  bones,  however,  were  after- 
wards carefully  collected,  and  reverently  interred  by  the 
brethren. 

*  Something  of  a  similar  kind  is  related  to  have  taken  place  at  the  burn- 
ing of  Savonarola  at  Florence  and  of  Bishop  Hooper  at  Gloucester,  when  the 
wind  for  a  short  space  of  time  blew  aside  the  flames  from  the  victim. 


S.    JOHN   AND    POLYCARP.  93 

The  letter  whicli  contained  this  simple,  true  account  was 
written  to  the  Philomelians,  who  had  asked  for  the  details 
of  the  death  of  the  great  Christian  teacher  whom  they  loved. 
They  were  directed  to  circulate  it  among  other  and  more 
distant  congregations. 

This  martyrdom  of  Polycarp  and  of  the  other  Christians 
at  the  games  of  Smyrna  must  be  dated  circa  a.d.  157 — 
when  the  Emperor  Antoninus  Pius  was  reigning;  and  is  a 
good  instance  of  the  deadly  perils  to  which  the  worshippers 
of  Jesus  were  constantly  exposed,  even  under  the  rule  of  the 
wisest  and  most  beneficent  of  Roman  Emperors,  during  the 
first  three  centuries  of  their  existence  as  a  religious  sect. 


94 


CHAPTER  V. 

IGNATIUS   OF   ANTIOCH. 

Strictly  speaking,  our  account  of  Ignatius  should  have 
preceded  that  of  Polycarp.  We  have  dwelt  first  upon  the 
life  story  of  the  Bishop  of  Smyrna  mainly  because  through 
the  references  of  contemporaries  we  have  been  enabled  to 
trace  the  whole  prolonged  career  of  one  who  was  in  his  early 
days  directly  connected  with  S.  John. 

Very  different,  however,  are  our  materials  for  any  picture 
of  the  career  of  Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antioch.  Here  we  have 
scarcely  anything  from  the  very  scanty  references  of  con- 
temporaries to  help  us.  The  few  traditions  belong  to  a  later 
age  and  are  untrustworthy.  Ignatius,  like  others  who  lived 
in  the  age  immediately  follomng  the  times  when  the  Apostles 
taught,  would  have  been  to  us  but  the  shadow  of  a  great 
name,  had  it  not  been  for  a  little  collection  of  epistles  of  his 
which  have  come  down  the  stream  of  time ;  a  little  packet,  so 
to  speak,  of  letters,  which,  in  the  form  we  now  use,  the  most 
trustworthy  scholars  dare  to  pronounce  absolutely  genuine. 

These  letters,  seven  •^  in  number,  but  by  no  means  long, 
are  of  intense  interest.  They  give  us  considerable  insight 
into  the  constitution  of  the  Christian  Church  a  very  few 
years  after  the  death  of  S.  John.  Their  date  is  clear,  circa 
A.D.  107-10.  They  also  give  us  the  opinions  of  a  great  and 
responsible   teacher,  who   learned  his  lessons  from  the  lips  of 

*  The  whole  seven  taken  together  are  not  equal  in  hulk  to  S.  Paul's  two 
Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  hy  several  chapters.  On  the  question  of  their  un- 
doubted genuineness,  see  Appendix  C  in  this  volume ;  where  the  question  of  their 
authenticity  is  discussed  at  some  length,  and  the  results  of  the  long  drawn  out 
controversy  respecting  their  genuineness  are  summarised. 


IGNATIUS    OF   ANTIOGH.  95 

Apostles,  on  some  of  the  more  important  of  the  fundamental 
Christian  doctrines ;  telling  us  exactly  what  the  disciples  of 
Jesus  thought  of  the  Master,  and  said  of  the  Master,  in  the 
first  years  of  the  second  century. 

Written  under  the  shadow  of  death,  the  burning  yet  care- 
fully weighed  words  of  the  writer  show  us  also  what  an 
earnest  Christian  of  that  early  age  thought  of  death.  To  one 
hke  Ignatius,  death  seemed  a  friend  which  would  bring  him 
at  once  into  the  company  of  his  adored  Lord.  These  epistles, 
apart  from  their  inestimable  value  as  a  very  early  piece  of 
doctrinal  teaching,  lay  bare  to  us  the  thoughts  of  a  martyr 
before  his  passion.  His  words,  the  true  expression  of  his 
heart,  have  brought  to  thousands  of  devoted  followers  of  the 
Master  comfort,  encouragement,  confidence;  not  only  in  the 
awful  scenes  so  common  in  the  centuries  of  persecution,  but 
also  in  countless  instances  to  harassed  souls  in  the  ages  of 
comparative  quiet  which  followed  the  first  two  hundred  and 
eighty  years  of  storm  and  stress  for  the  Christian  communities. 

His  martyrdom  we  can  place  with  some  certainty  between 
A.D.  107  and  a.d.  110.  From  expressions  in  his  letters,  it 
would  seem  that  he  was  an  old,  or  at  least  an  elderly  man, 
when  he  was  condemned.  This  would  give  circa  a.d.  40  as 
the  date  of  his  birth.  He  represents  himself  apparently  as 
not  born  of  Christian  parentage,  but  as  having  been  converted 
to  Christianity  in  mature  life.  The  earliest  traditions  unite 
in  representing  Ignatius  as  the  second  of  the  Antiochene 
Bishops.  That  he  was  a  disciple  of  one  of  the  great  Apostles 
all  early  traditions  tell  us,  one  mentioning  S.  Peter,  another 
S.  John,  a  third  S.  Paul  as  his  master.  That  he  was  an 
"  Apostolic "  man,  or  in  other  words  a  pupil  of  the  Apostles, 
seems  almost  indisputable.  That  for  a  lengthened  period 
he  presided  over  the  influential  and  numerous  congregation 
of  the  great  Syrian  capital  Antioch  is  equally  certain 

By  Syrian  writers,  to  the  name  Ignatius  is  added  the 
appellation  Nurono,  which  some  have  supposed  referred  to 
the  town  Nora  or  Nura  in  Sardinia,  "  Ignatius  Nuraniensis  "  ; 
but  there  is  nothing  anywhere  related  which  would  give 
colour  to  the  supposition  that  he  was  a  native  of  Sardinia.     The 


96  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

appellation  probably  comes  from  the  Syrian  word  "  Nuro," 
or  flame,  and  he  would  have  received  the  name  from  his 
passionate  devotion  to  the  Redeemer,  his  heart  being  all 
aflame  for  God. 

The  term,  however,  by  which  Ignatius  is  best  laiown, 
and  which  he  uses  himself  in  his  letters,  is  "  Theophorus," 
the  God-borne;  or,  if  the  Greek  word  be  differently  accented, 
the  God-bearer.  This  name  or  appellation  has  given  rise  to 
the  favourite  and  beautiful  story  that  Ignatius  was  the  very 
child  whom  our  Lord  took  in  His  arms  (S.  Mark  ix.  36-37). 
But  the  striking  legend  was  utterly  unknown  in  early  times. 
Eusebius,  for  instance,  who  has  much  to  say  of  the  Martyr- 
Bishop  and  his  famous  letters,  is  silent  here.  S.  Chrysostom 
besides  definitely  tells  us  that,  unlike  the  Apostles,  Ignatius 
had  not  seen  the  Lord.  Another  interesting  explanation,  but 
little  known,  was  current.  This  curiously  relates  how,  when 
his  heart  was  cut  into  small  pieces,  the  name  of  Christ  was 
inscribed  in  golden  letters  on  each  single  piece.  This  fanciful 
legend  strangely  enough  reminds  us  of  Queen  Mary's  words — 
that  when  she  was  dead,  the  name  of  Calais  would  be  read 
engraven  on  her  heart.*  The  most  probable  explanation  of  the 
name  is  that  the  saint  himself  adopted  it,  as  expressive  of 
the  ideal  he  ever  proposed  to  himself — one  who  would  bear 
God  always  in  his  thoughts.  This  assumption  of  a  special 
designation  in  addition  to  the  original  name,  was  a  common 
practice,   of  which   there   are   many   instances. 

Of  the  circumstances  of  his  arrest,  trial,  and  condemnation 
at  Antioch  circa  a.d.  107-10,  we  possess  no  definite  informa- 
tion beyond  what  the  saint  tells  us  himself  in  his  letters. 
The  details  contained   in   the  "  Acts  of  Martyrdom  "t  cannot 

*Cf.  Lightfoot,  Upp.  of  Ign.,  i.  1. 

t  The  careful  way,  however,  in  which  the  dates  and  chronological  notices 
are  given  in  the  "  Acts  of  Martyrdom  "  are  among  the  points  which  have  been 
with  some  reason  pressed,  when  the  theory  of  an  older  and  authentic  document 
underlying  the  "  Acts "  in  their  present  form  is  advanced.  The  Antiochene 
"Acts"  above  referred  to  are,  however,  the  only  "Acts"  for  which  any  plea  of 
genuineness  can  be  advanced.  Many  eminent  scholars  of  an  older  generation, 
such  as  Usher,  Pearson,  Leclerc,  and  in  our  own  time  Allard,  are  persuaded 
at  least  of  a  basis  of  truth  underl}dng  them ;  see,  however,  the  conclusions 
arrived  at  in  Appendix  C. 


IGNATIUS    OF  ANTIOGH.  97 

be  received  as  authentic  contemporary  history.  A  perse- 
cution, which  does  not  appear  to  have  been  general,  a  fierce 
onslaught  on  the  Christian  community  of  Antioch,  had 
broken  out,  probably  through  some  special  accusations  of 
informers ;  Ignatius,  the  chief  pastor  of  the  Church,  was 
charged  with  professing  and  teaching  Christianity ;  and  on 
confessing  at  once  that  he  was  a  Christian  was  condemned 
by  the  provincial  magistrate  to  the  wild  beasts,  and  with 
other  criminals  was  reserved  for  the  Imperial  games  at  Rome. 
These  bloody  sports  in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Trajan 
were  on  a  vast  scale,  and  included  mimic  battles  with  real 
bloodshed,  by  sea  and  land,  combats  of  men  with  wild 
beasts,  and  other  horrible  diversions  in  which  the  Roman 
populace  evidently  delighted,  such  as  those  mentioned  in 
the  account  above  given  of  Nero's  games  in  the  Vatican 
Gardens.  A  considerable  supply  of  victims  was  required 
for  these  inhuman  exhibitions.  To  meet  this  need  the  pro- 
vincial governors  were  required  to  send  up  to  Rome  from 
time  to  time  criminals  who  had  been  convicted  of  a 
capital  offence ;  to  play,  fight,  and  suffer  in  one  of  the 
enormous  amphitheatres,  and  to  be  included  in  the  great 
crowd  of  guilty  and  innocent  men  and  women  who  on 
high  festival  occasions  were  "  called  for  to  make  sport  for 
the  people." 

Ignatius  was  one  of  these  victims.  No  successful  general 
ever  journeyed  Rome  wards — looking  forward  to  being  the  prin- 
cipal figure  in  one  of  those  proud  triumphs  with  which  the 
Empire  was  wont  to  honour  her  successful  captains — more 
joyfully  than  did  Ignatius  in  that  painful  journey  of  his 
from  Antioch  to  Rome — looking  forward  to  being,  in  the  eyes 
of  his  brother  Christians,  the  chief  sufferer  in  the  blood- 
stained Imperial  games.  His  only  fear  was  lest  some  ill- 
advised  powerful  friend  of  the  Christians  should  use  his 
influence  at  the  last  moment,  and  rescue  him  from  the 
martyr's  death  for  which  he  so  passionately  longed. 

It  was  a  long  journey  from  Syrian  Antioch  to  Rome. 
Under  the  custody  of  a  little  company  of  ten  soldiers,  he 
most   probably   embarked    at    Seleucia    for   some   Cilician    or 

H 


98  EARLY    GRBISTIANITY    AND    PAGANISM. 

Pamphylian   harbour,   and    from    there    travelled    across    the 
districts  of  Asia  Minor  to  the  Western  Coast. 

At  Philadelphia  his  escort  made  a  halt,  to  which  he 
especially  refers  in  his  letters  to  the  Church.  From  this 
city  he  was  taken  to  Smyrna,  where  again  a  stay  was  made 
of  some  considerable  duration.  There  the  prisoner  was 
warmly  and  affectionately  welcomed  by  the  Bishop,  Polycarp. 
Thither  also  there  came  to  visit  him  delegates  from  Ephesus 
and  its  Church,  headed  by  the  Bishop  Onesimus,  and  from 
the  Christian  communities  of  the  cities  of  Tralles  and 
Magnesia. 

From  Smyrna  the  martyr  wrote  four  of  the  famous 
epistles  which  Ave  still  possess ;  to  the  Churches  of  Ephesus, 
Magnesia,  and  Tralles,  and  one,  which  as  we  shall  see  was 
especially  prized  by  the  early  Church,  to  the  Roman  com- 
munity. 

After  Smyrna,  the  next  lengthy  halt  was  at  Alexandria 
Troas.  At  Troas  the  condemned  Bishop  wrote  three  more 
letters.  Of  these  letters,  two  were  addressed  to  the  com- 
munities he  had  visited  in  his  painful  journey — the  Christians 
of  Philadelphia  and  Smyrna ;  and  the  third,  from  which  we 
have  already  quoted,  was  specially  written  to  Polycarp,  the 
Bishop  of  Smyrna.  When  this  letter  was  written  he  was 
about  to  sail  to  Neapolis,  on  the  European  coast.  From 
Neapolis  he  was  taken  another  stage  of  his  long  journey,  to 
Philippi.  But  after  the  letters  written  by  Ignatius  at 
Troas  we  have  nothing  from  his  pen ;  what  little  more  v;e 
learn  of  the  saint  comes  from  another  source. 

While  at  Philippi  he  had  directed  the  brethren  there  to 
write  a  letter  to  his  own  Church  of  Antioch,  with  news  of 
their  captive  Bishop.  The  Philippian  Church  wrote  to  Poly- 
carp of  Smyrna  requesting  that  their  letter,  written  accord- 
ing to  the  martyr's  direction,  should  be  conveyed  to  Antioch. 
Polycarp's  reply  to  the  Philippians,  already  referred  to,  is 
the  solitary  letter  which  we  possess  of  the  great  Bishop  of 
Smyrna.  In  it  he  asks  for  any  further  information  they 
might  possess  respecting  the  fate  of  Ignatius ;  but  we  have 
no  record  of  their  reply. 


IGNATIUS    OF  ANTIOGII.  99 

So  far  for  the  celebrated  journey  of  Ignatius  from  Antiocli 
to  Rome  we  have  authoritative  evidence.  The  genumeness 
of  the  seven  letters  of  the  martyr  and  of  the  subsequent 
letter  of  Polycarp  to  the  Philippians  is  now  placed  beyond 
dispute.  That  Ignatius  was  taken  from  Philippi  to  Rome, 
that  he  suffered  death,  exposed  to  wild  beasts  in  that  enormous 
amphitheatre,  whose  vast  ruins  are  so  well  known  under  the 
name  of  the  Colosseum,  erected  by  the  Imperial  Flavian 
House  expressly  for  the  bloody  games  in  which  the  Romans 
delighted,  there  is  no  doubt.     Tradition  is  unanimous,  here. 

It  will,  however,  be  specially  interesting  to  see  what  the 
Antiochene  "  Acts  of  Martyrdom "  relate  concerning  the  last 
hours  of  the  martyr. 

In  the  Appendix  C  the  genuineness  of  the  existing  form 
of  the  "  Acts  "  is  discussed.  Bishop  Lightfoot,  while  rejecting 
(contrary  to  the  opinions  of  some  scholars)  these  "  Acts  "  as  a 
genume  contemporary  piece,  considers  that  a  residuum  of  a 
true  tradition  is  possibly  preserved  in  them,  some  earlier 
document  being  embodied  in  the  recital,  especially  in  those 
parts  which  profess  to  be  related  by  eye-witnesses.  These 
eye-witnesses  tell  us  how  a  favourable  wind  carried  the  ship 
in  which  Ignatius  was  sailing  past  Puteoli  to  the  harbour  of 
the  Romans  (Ostia)  too  quickly  for  these  eye-witnesses,  who, 
to  use  their  own  words,  were  "mourning  over  the  separation 
which  must  soon  come  between  ourselves  and  this  righteous 
man,  while  he  had  his  wish  fulfilled ;  for  he  was  eager  to 
depart  from  the  world  quickly,  that  he  might  hasten  to 
join  the  Lord  whom  he  loved.  Wherefore  as  he  landed  at 
the  port  of  the  Romans  just  when  the  unholy  sports  were 
nearing  a  close,  the  soldiers  were  vexed  at  the  slow  pace, 
Avhile  the  Bishop  gladly  obeyed  them  as  they  hurried  him 
forward." 

The  witnesses  of  the  end  set  out  from  the  port  at  break 
of  day  and,  "  as  the  doings  of  the  holy  martyr  had  already 
been  rumoured  abroad,  we  were  met  by  the  brethren,  who 
were  filled  at  once  with  fear  and  joy — with  joy,  because  they 
were  vouchsafed  the  meeting  with  the  '  God-bearer ' ;  with 
fear   because  so   good   a   man   was   on   the  way  to  execution. 


100  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

And  some  of  tliem  he,  Ignatius,  also  charged  to  hold  their 
peace,  Avhen  in  the  fervour  of  their  zeal  they  said  that  they 
would  stay  the  people  from  seeking  the  death  of  the  righteous 
man.  Having  recognised  these  at  once  by  the  Spirit,  and 
having  saluted  all  of  them,  he  asked  them  to  show  their 
genuine  love,  and  discoursed  at  greater  length  than  in  his 
epistle,  and  persuaded  them  not  to  grudge  one  who  was 
hastening  to  meet  his  Lord ;  and  then,  all  the  brethren  falling 
on  their  knees,  he  made  entreaty  to  the  Son  of  God  for  the 
Churches,  for  the  staying  of  the  persecutions,  and  for  the 
love  of  the  brethren  one  to  another,  and  was  led  away 
promptly  into  the  amphitheatre.  Then  forthwith  he  was  put 
into  the  arena  in  obedience  to  the  previous  order  of  Csesar 
(the  Emperor  Trajan)  just  as  the  sports  were  drawing  to  a 
close  .  .  .  whereupon  he  was  thrown  by  these  godless  men  to 
savage  beasts,  and  so  the  desire  of  the  holy  martyr  Ignatius 
was  fulfilled  forthwith  .  .  .  that  he  might  not  be  burdensome 
to  any  of  the  brethren  by  the  collection  of  his  reliques, 
according  as  he  had  already  in  his  epistle  expressed  his 
desire  that  his  own  martyrdom  might  be,  for  only  the 
tougher  part  of  his  holy  relics  were  left,  and  only  these  were 
carried  back  to  Antioch  and  laid  in  a  sarcophagus.  .  .  . 
Now  these  things  happened  on  the  13th  before  the  Kalends 
of  January,  when  Sura  and  Senecio  for  the  second  time  were 
consuls  among  the  Romans. 

"Having  with  tears  beheld  these  thmgs  with  our  own 
eyes,  and  having  watched  aU  night  long  in  the  house,  and 
having  often  and  again  entreated  the  Lord  with  supplication 
on  our  knees  to  confirm  the  fiiith  of  us  weak  men  after  what 
had  passed,  when  we  had  fallen  asleep  for  a  while,  some  of 
us  suddenly  beheld  the  blessed  Ignatius  standing  by  and 
embracing  us,  while  by  others  again  he  was  seen  praying  over 
us,  and  by  others  dropping  with  sweat,  as  if  he  were  come 
from  a  hard  struggle,  and  were  standing  by  the  Lord's  side 
with  much  boldness  and  unutterable  glory.  And  being  filled 
with  joy  at  the  sight  and  comparing  the  visions  of  our  dreams, 
after  singing  hymns  to  God,  the  Giver  of  good  things,  and 
lauding  the  holy  man,  we  have  signified  unto  you   both  the 


IGNATIUS    OF  ANTIOGH.  101 

day  and  the  time,  that  we  may  gather  ourselves  together  at 
the  season  of  the  martyrdom  and  hold  communion  with  the 
athlete  and  valiant  martyr  of  Christ,  who  trampled  the  devil 
under  foot,  and  accomplished  the  race  of  his  Christian  devo- 
tion in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  through  AVhom,  and  with 
Whom,  is  the  glory  and  power  with  the  Father,  with  the 
Holy  Spirit,  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen !  "  ^ 

But  we  must  dwell  for  a  brief  space  upon  those  "  seven 
authentic  letters  "  which  come  to  us  as  a  breath  from  the 
very  heart  of  the  early  Christian  Church,  telling  us  some- 
thing of  the  hopes  which  inspired,  of  the  fears  which  per- 
plexed, of  the  faith  which  strengthened  and  encouraged  the 
little  communities  of  Christians,  in  the  years  which  imme- 
diately succeeded  the  "  passing "  of  S.  John,  the  last,  and 
perhaps  the  greatest,  of  the  Apostolic  band.  Those  seven 
letters,  which  have  come  do^^Ti  to  us  in  so  wonderful  a 
manner  through  the  eighteen  hundred  years  of  storm  and 
stress,  through  the  age  of  persecution,  through  the  yet  longer 
ages  of  war  and  confusion — what  were  they  ? 

The  whole  seven  taken  tos^ether,  as  we  have  said,  are 
barely  as  long  as  the  two  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians  of  S. 
Paul.  They  are,  each  of  them,  with  the  exception  of  that 
written  to  the  Ephesians,  which  is  of  some  length,  but  little 
things  after  all.  They  cannot  be  termed  treatises  on  any 
definite  subject ;  they  are  not  reasoned  out,  they  bear 
evidently  the  marks  of  haste  and  hurry.  But  their  passionate 
expressions,  full  of  love,  anxious  care,  burning  faith,  spring 
evidently  from  the  heart  of  the  writer,  and  that  writer  no 
ordinary  man.  He  was,  we  see  clearly,  one  long  accus- 
tomed to  rule,  to  organise,  and  to  teach.  His  theological 
system,  to  use  a  later  term,  was  a  definite  one.  His  mind 
was  fully  made  up  on  the  questions  of  the  great  fundamental 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  as  we  should  expect  in  one  who 
had  been  the  pupil  of  Apostles,  trained  by  Peter  or  Paul 
or  John,  not  improbably  a  hearer  of  each  of  these  disciples 
of  the  Lord. 

There  is  a  certain  sameness  in  five  of  the  seven  epistles, 

*  Acts  of  Martj-xdom  of  S.  Ig-natius  (the  so-called  Antiochene  Acts),  5,  6,  7. 


102  EARLY    CHBISTIAXITY   AXD    PAGANISM. 

VIZ.  those  written  to  the  Ephesians,  Magnesians,  Trallians, 
Philadelphians,  and  Smyrnasans.  That  addressed  to  Polycarp 
is,  as  might  be  expected,  more  personal  in  its  character. 
The  letter  to  the  Komans  is  quite  different  from  the  other 
six.  It  is  almost  wholly  taken  up  with  thoughts  connected 
with  his  martyrdom.  In  many  respects  it  is  the  most 
remarkable  and  interesting  of  the  seven,  and  has  enjoyed 
by  far  the  widest  popularity. 

To  go  a  little  farther  into  detail,  in  the  five  above 
alluded  to  as  being  cast  somewhat  in  the  same  mould 
the  Churches  addressed  are  solemnly  warned  to  beware  of 
heresy,  of  false  doctrine.  And  the  special  error,  which 
evidently  gave  the  great  teacher  uneasiness  lest  the  pure 
faith  of  the  communities  should  be  endangered,  was  a 
strange  wandering  from  the  original  Evangelic  teaching 
respecting  the  Person  of  Christ.  In  theological  language 
the  heresy  against  which  Ignatius  warns  his  readers  is  termed 
"Docetism,"  a  heresy  which  questioned  the  reality  of  Christ's 
humanity,  of  His  actual  birth  and  life  and  death  in  the 
flesh,  maintaining  that  "  the  body  with  which  Christ  seemed 
to  be  clothed  was  a  phantom,  and  that  all  his  actions  were 
only  in  appearances." 

"  Docetism "  is  a  danger  which  has  long  passed  away ; 
to  us  it  is  but  "  the  shadow  of  smoke,  is  the  dream  of  a 
dream " ;  yet  all  the  writings  which  have  come  to  us  from 
the  teachers  of  the  second  century  show  us  that  in  those 
early  days  this  curious  error  constituted  a  very  real  peril  to 
Christianity.  Strong  anti-Docetic  statements  are  repeated 
in  similar  Language  in  five  of  the  epistles,  such  as  "Jesus 
Christ  .  .  .  who  was  truly  born  and  ate  and  drank,  was 
truly  persecuted  under  Pontius  Pilate,  was  truly  crucified 
and  died  in  the  sight  of  those  in  heaven,  and  those  on  earth, 
and  those  under  the  earth,  moreover,  was  truly  raised  from 
the  death.  .  .  .  But  if  it  were,  as  certain  persons,  who  are 
godless,  that  is  unbelievers,  say,  that  He  suffered  only  in 
semblance  .  .  .  why  am  I  in  bonds  ?  and  why  also  do  I 
desire  to  fight  Avith  wild  beasts  ?  So  I  die  in  vain  !  Truly 
then  I  lie  against  the  Lord.    .    .    .    Shun  ye,  therefore,   those 


IGNATIUS    OF   ANTIOGH.  103 

vile  offshoots  that  gender  a  deadly  fruit,  whereof  if  a  man 
taste  forthwith  he  dieth.  For  these  men  are  not  the 
Father's  planting."     (Ep.  to  the  TralHans,  9,  10,  11.) 

And  again,  "  I  know  and  believe  that  He  was  in  the 
tlesh  even  after  the  Resurrection;  and  when  He  came  to 
Peter  and  his  company  He  said  unto  them,  '  Lay  hold  and 
handle  me,  and  see  that  I  am  not  a  demon  without  a  body,' 
and  straightway  they  touched  him  and  they  believed." 
(Ep,  to  the  Smyrnteans,  3.) 

But  besides  the  reality  of  the  Passion  of  the  Lord,  on 
which,  in  view  of  the  heretical  suggestions  of  the  Docetic 
teachers,  Ignatius  laid  so  much  stress,  the  great  Bishop,  in 
five  of  his  seven  letters,  was  peculiarly  urgent  in  pressing 
home  the  supreme  necessity  for  ecclesiastical  order,  which  he 
considered  as  the  great  bulwark  against  doctrinal  errors. 

None  of  the  eminent  Church  teachers  in  any  age  has  so 
persistently  advocated  the  authority  of  the  threefold  ministry 
as  has  Ignatius.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Martyr  -  Bishop  of 
Antioch,  who  was  the  first  authoritative  mouthpiece  of  the 
Church  after  the  passing  away  of  S.  John,  the  threefold 
ministry  of  bishops^  priests,  and  deacons  was,  to  use  the 
words  of  his  latest  scholarly  biographer,  "  the  husk,  the  shell, 
which  protects  the  precious  kernel  of  the  truth."  So  repeated 
and  so  urgent  were  his  charges  here,  that  it  is  difficult  in  a 
brief  summary  to  select  from  the  letters  even  the  more  telling. 
"  It  becometh  you,"  he  writes  to  the  Ephesians,  "  to  run  in 
harmony  with  the  mind  of  the  bishop  .  .  .  for  your  honour- 
able presbytery,  which  is  worthy  of  God,  is  attuned  to  the 
bishop,  even  as  its  strings  to  a  lyre." 

To  the  Magnesians :  "  As  the  Lord  did  nothing  without 
the  Father  (being  united  with  Him),  either  by  Himself  or 
by  the  Apostles,  so  neither  do  you  anything  without  the 
bishop  and  the  presbyters." 

To  the  Philadelphians :  "  I  cried  out,  when  I  was  among 
you,  I  spake  with  a  loud  voice,  Avith  God's  own  voice — Give 
you  heed  to  the  bishop,  and  the  presbytery  and  the  deacons." 

To  the  Smyrn£eans :  "  Let  that  be  held  a  valid  Eucharist, 
which   is   under   the   bishop,  or  one  to  whom  he   shall   have 


10 i  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

committed  it.  It  is  not  lawful,  apart  from  the  bishop,  either 
to  baptise,  or  to  hold  a  love-feast ;  but  whatsoever  he  shall 
approve,  this  is  well  pleasing  also  to  God,  that  everything 
which  you  shall  do  may  be  safe  and  valid." 

And  these,  we  must  remember,  are  only  a  few  quotations 
from  a  number  of  like  sayings  in  the  letters.  Well  might 
reformers  like  Calvin,  who,  no  doubt  largely  owing  to  the 
force  of  circumstances,  had  adopted  Presbyterianism,  and, 
later,  our  English  Milton,  impugn  the  authenticity  of  the 
Ignatian  letters.  This  they  did,  as  is  well  known,  in  language 
of  reckless  invective  ;  for  if  the  seven  famous  Ignatian  epistles 
were  accepted  as  genuine,  it  would  follow  that  the  form  of 
Church  government  adojDted  by  the  advocates  of  Presby- 
terianism was  absolutely  at  variance  with  the  Church  order 
generally  recognised  circa  a.d.  100-10,  and  so  strongly  com- 
mended by  one  of  the  most  honoured  and  revered  of  the 
Church  teachers  and  leaders  of  that  age. 

Of  the  genuineness  and  authenticity  of  the  seven  letters, 
from  which  the  above  quotations  are  taken,  and  in  which 
many,  similar  passages  to  those  quoted  above  occur,  there  is 
no  longer  any  room  for  doubt. 

But  among  the  seven  there  is  one  letter  in  which  neither 
is  heresy  combated,  nor  the  necessity  of  ecclesiastical  order 
enjoined.  In  the  epistle  to  the  Romans  the  writer  had  in 
mind  another  object — his  coming  martyrdom.  It  is  coloured 
with  his  hopes,  his  fears,  his  outlook.  His  hopes  are  all 
centred  in  the  glorious  agony  which  lay  before  him ;  his  fears 
are  summed  up  in  a  strange,  nervous  dread  that  he  might 
never,  owing  to  some  mistaken  kindness  of  friends,  or  through 
the  pity  of  his  enemies,  attain  to  that  goal  of  martyrdoin  he 
so  passionately  longed  to  reach ;  his  gaze  was  directed  alone 
to  the  other  world,  where  he  would  meet  his  loved  Lord  face 
to  face. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  strange,  wonderful  letter.  He  looked 
forward  to  the  supreme  hour  of  the  arena,  feeling  that  the 
great  example  he  hoped  to  set  would  be  a  help  to  the  cause 
he  loved  with  his  whole  soul.  If  only  they  would  keep  silence 
and   leave   him   alone  to  die,  he  would   be  "  a  word  of  God, 


IGNATIUS    OF   ANTIOCH.  105 

instead  of  a  mere  cry."  He  shrank  from  no  suffering,  fully 
realising  what  lay  before  him  in  that  dread  arena.  "Let  me," 
was  his  passionate  utterance,  "  be  given  to  the  wild  beasts ; 
for  through  them  can  I  attain  unto  God.  I  am  God's  wheat, 
and  I  am  ground  by  the  teeth  of  wild  beasts,  that  I  may  be 
found  the  pure  bread  (of  Christ) ;  rather  entice  the  wild 
beasts,  that  they  may  become  my  sepulchre,  and  may  leave 
no  part  of  my  body  behind.  ...  It  is  good  for  me  to  die 
for  Jesus  Christ  rather  than  to  reign  over  the  farthest  bounds 
of  the  earth.  Him  I  seek  AVho  died  on  our  behalf,  Him  I 
desire  Who  rose  again  (for  our  sakes)."  Curious,  indeed,  was 
his  fear  lest  his  Roman  friends,  through  a  mistaken  kindness, 
a  too  officious  zeal,  should  obtain  a  reversal  of  his  awful 
sentence.  To  Ignatius  death  was  life,  and  hfe,  as  we  com- 
monly understand  it,  was  death.  "Do  not  hinder  me,"  he 
pleaded,  "  from  living "  (as  he  understood  living),  "  do  not 
desire  my  death,  .  ,  .  suffer  me  to  receive  the  pure  light ; 
when  I  am  come  thither,  then  I  shall  be  a  man :  let  me 
be  an  imitator  of  the  Passion  of  my  God.  .  .  .  Never  shall 
I  find  an  opportunity  such  as  this  to  attain  unto  God.  .  .  . 
I  dread  your  very  love,  lest  it  do  me  an  injury.  .  .  .  Come 
fire  and  cross  and  grapplings  with  wild  beasts,  cuttings  and 
manglings,  wrenchings  of  bones,  hacking  of  limbs,  crushings 
of  my  whole  body,  come  eruel  tortures  of  the  devils  to  assail 
me — only  be  it  mine  to  attain  unto  Jesus  Christ."  Much 
more  like  this  is  to  be  found  in  this  strange  letter.  It  is  all 
one  passionate  longing  cry  for  martjTdom, 

Very  striking  was  the  effect  of  this  epistle  of  Ignatius 
to  the  Romans.  It  crystallised  in  words,  so  to  speak,  the 
spirit  of  the  early  Church  in  the  face  of  death,  that  spirit 
which  so  dismayed,  disturbed,  made  anxious  great  Pagan 
statesmen  like  the  Emperor  Marcus.  Men  reahsed  that  the 
feeling  which  despised  death,  the  feeling  so  strikingly  and 
so  early  voiced  by  Ignatius,  was  thoroughly  earnest,  was  very 
real  and  genuine.  This  intense  conviction  that  death  was 
life,  that  death  would  unite  them  for  ever  to  their  Lord, 
was  the  victory  which  overcame  the  world,  which  eventually 
swept  away  the  old  Pagan  cult,  and  which,  after  two  centuries 


106  EABLY    CBBISTIA^ITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

and  a  half  of  combat,  enthroned   Christianity   as   the  world's 
rehgion. 

Although  it  is  clear  that  the  seven  letters  of  Ignatius 
enjoyed  from  early  times  a  wide  popularity,  this  epistle  to 
the  Romans,  which  preached  martyrdom  for  the  faith  as 
the  true  life,  as  the  pure  light,  as  the  perfect  discipleship, 
which  exalted  the  martyr's  crown  as  a  better  prize  than  even 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  in  this  respect  excelled  them  all. 
It  appears  to  have  been  even  circulated  as  a  separate  tractate. 
It  has  been  happily  termed  a  sort  of  "  Martyr's  Manual,"  a 
vade  mecuTii  of  martyrs  in  subsequent  ages.  In  the  earliest 
authentic  contemporary  records  of  martyrdom  that  we  possess, 
as  for  instance  in  the  letter  to  the  Philomelians,  written  from 
Smyrna  immediately  after  the  death  of  its  great  Bishop  Poly- 
carp,  circa  A.D.  157,  in  the  pathetic  story,  evidently  compiled 
by  a  contemporary,  of  the  persecutions  at  Lyons  and  Vienne, 
in  the  Passion  of  Perpetua  and  Felicitas  at  Carthage,  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Scillitan  Martyrs,  its  reflection  is  clearly  seen. 
It  was  one  of  those  pieces  of  early  Christian  literature  which 
impressed  itself  with  strange  power  on  the  thought  of  the 
Church  of  the  age  of  persecution ;  and  the  secret  of  its 
widespread  influence  must  be  largely  sought  and  found  in  its 
language,  true  as  it  was  passionate,  the  faithful  echo  of  the 
spirit  which  hved  in  that  early  Church,  and  was  ever 
whispering  that  for  the  Christian  "  to  live  was  Christ,  but 
to  die  was  gain " ;  that  while  for  a  Christian  teacher  to 
abide  in  the  flesh  Avas  perhaps  needful  for  the  brethren, 
yet  "  to   depart  and  be  with  Christ  was  far  better." 


107 


CHAPTER  VI. 

TRAJAN    AND   HADRIAN. 
SECTION   I. — PLINY   AND   TRAJAN. 

In  completing  our  picture  of  Polycarp,  we  have  anticipated 
a  somewhat  distant  date ;  since  his  life  was  a  long  one,  and 
stretched  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles  well  into  the  middle 
of  the  second  century.  The  materials  for  our  picture  were 
not  numerous,  nor  abundant,  but  they  sufficed  for  our  pur- 
pose and,  what  is  of  the  highest  importance,  were  absolutely 
authentic. 

Now,  however,  we  must  retrace  our  steps,  and  see  what 
we  can  gather  respecting  the  fortunes  of  the  Church  between 
the  year  of  Ignatius'  martyrdom,  circa  a.d.  107-10  and  the 
date  of  Poly  carp's  death,  ch^ca  a.d.  157, 

Anything  like  a  consecutive  and  detailed  history  of  the 
Church  during  the  age  of  persecution,  especially  during  the 
first  and  second  centuries,  is  impossible.  There  are  no  con- 
temporary annals,  no  chronicles  of  events  to  assist  us  in  such 
a  work. 

What  we  do  possess  are  a  few  contemporary  writings  of 
unimpeachable  genuineness,  and  a  few  contemporary  notes 
from  Pagan  Avriters.  Out  of  these  we  construct  our  story  ;  but 
the  writings  which  have  come  down  to  us  are  after  all  but 
few  and  fragmentary,  and  the  notices  fitful,  touching  only 
certain  years,  and  affecting  only  certain  localities.  StiU, 
there  are  enough  of  these  flashes  of  hght  amidst  the  dark- 
ness which  shrouds  the  early  years  of  the  Church's  existence 
for  us  to  form  some  conception  of  the  marvellously  rapid 
progress  of  the   superhuman   courage   and   endurance,   of    the 


108  EARLY    CimiSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

widespread  quiet  influence,  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  in  those  far  back  years  of  the  first  and  second 
centuries. 

In  quite  the  early  part  of  the  second  century,  when  the 
memory  of  S.  John,  who  had  only  passed  away  some  dozen 
years  before,  was  still  fresh  and  vivid ;  in  the  comparatively 
early  days  of  Poly  carp's  long  episcopate  at  Smyrna,  just 
after  the  long  drawn  out  tragedy  of  Ignatius  had  been  played 
in  the  cities  of  Proconsular  Asia  and  in  Rome;  another  and 
a  strong  light  is  flashed  upon  the  then  condition  of  Chris- 
tianity, A  light  from  a  very  difierent  source;  proceeding 
from  no  treasured  letters  of  a  martyred  Christian  leader,  from 
no  fragment  of  the  correspondence  of  an  early  Christian 
bishop  which  has  survived  the  wear  and  tear  of  eighteen 
centuries,  from  no  precious  memories  preserved  to  us  by  an 
Irenseus,  or  gathered  up  by  the  pious  and  scholarly  care  of 
an  Eusebius,  but  from  the  very  heart  of  the  Imperial  Pagan 
Government  of  the  day 

In  the  year  112  the  younger  Pliny  filled  the  important 
post  of  propraetor  or  governor  of  the  large  province  of 
Bithynia-Pontus.  This  wide  district,  roughly  speaking,  in- 
cluded the  countries  of  modern  Asia  Minor,  from  the  coasts 
which  lie  opposite  to  Constantinople  to  a  point  some  eighty 
or  more  miles  beyond  Sinope  on  the  Black  Sea,  and  stretched 
far  into  the  interior  to  the  borders  of  Proconsular  Asia  and 
Galatia.  Pliny  was  a  noble  Roman  of  high  character,  a 
statesman  and  lawyer  of  great  reputation,  who  enjoyed  the 
confidence  and  friendship  of  the  Emperor  Trajan,  the  master 
of  the  Roman  world.  Trajan,  whose  policy  to  a  great  degree 
determined  the  relations  between  Christianity  and  the  Empire 
during  well  nigh  the  whole  of  the  second  century,  ranks  high 
on  the  list  of  the  good  and  great  Emperors — not  a  long  list, 
alas !  This  powerful  sovereign  in  many  respects  has  been 
the  object  of  exaggerated  praise,  for  his  life  was  sadly  stained 
by  not  a  few  dark  crimes  and  by  shameless  immorality,  as 
well  as  b}^  his  love  of  war  and  foreign  conquest.  But  the 
sharp  contrast  which,  on  the  whole,  his  wise  and  far-seeing 
administration  presented   to   the   tyrannical   and   wicked    rule 


TRAJAN. 
From  a  Bust  found  in  the  Canipagna,  now  in  the  British  Museum. 


TRAJAN  AND    EADBIAN.  109 

of  many  of  his  predecessors  and  successors,  has  won  him 
unstinted  adulation  not  only  from  Pagan  but  from  Christian 
writers.  It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  his  government 
of  the  vast  Roman  world  was  just  and  his  measures  moderate, 
and  generally  tending  to  stillness  at  home. 

The  reply  of  such  an  Emperor  to  his  friend  the  Propraetor 
Pliny  on  the  attitude  to  be  observed  by  the  Government 
towards  Christians,  crystallising  as  it  did  the  Imperial  pohcy 
for  a  long  period,  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  any  history 
which  deals  with  the  early  story  of  the  Church. 

A  somewhat  perplexing  question  had  arisen  in  Pliny's 
province.  The  proprietor  felt  that  the  decision  once  for  all 
of  the  points  at  issue  would  have  far-reaching  consequences ; 
and  therefore  he  wrote  for  instructions  to  his  friend  and 
master,  Trajan,  whom  he  regarded,  and  rightly,  as  a  very 
able  and  far-sighted  administrator.  Our  knowledge  of  the 
transaction  is  derived  from  a  volume  in  which  the  corre- 
spondence'^ of  Pliny  with  Trajan  is  preserved. 

We  learn  from  the  letter  of  Pliny  to  the  Emperor  that 
the  new  rehgion  (Christianity)  had  spread  so  widely  in  his 
province  of  Bithynia,  that  not  merely  in  the  cities,  but  also 
in  the  villages  and  rural  districts,  the  temples  were  well- 
nigh  deserted  and  the  trades  connected  with  the  elaborate 
system  of  sacrifice  were  being  rapidly  ruined.  It  was  evident 
in  Pliny's  mind  that  the  wonderful  progress  of  the  new 
religion  bade  fair  sooner  or  later  to  upset  the  existing 
conditions  of  Roman  society.  Ought  not,  then,  some  severe 
check  to  be  at  once  imposed  upon  a  society  which  threatened 
to  bring  about  such  disturbing  influences  ?  From  Pliny's 
letter  we  see  that  the  grave  matter  which  he  referred  to 
the  Emperor  had  already  passed  through  two  stages.  The 
first  stage  had  included  a  number  of  accusations  directed 
evidently  against  the  more  prominent  adherents  of  the   faith. 

*  Pliny:  Epist.  ad  Trq/.,  96-97.  This  correspondence  has  been  pronounced 
by  the  universal  verdict  of  scholars  and  critics  as  undoubtedly  genuine.  The 
MS.  containing  it  was  only  brought  to  light  circa  a.d.  1500.  It  contains  a 
unique  picture  of  provincial  administration  in  the  Empire  early  in  the  second 
century. 


110  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

The  accused  appear  all  without  exception  to  have  boldly 
confessed  their  faith,  and  these  the  proprsetor,  in  accordance 
with  the  acknowledged  and  universal  precedents  of  Roman 
procedure  in  the  case  of  Christianity,  at  once  condemned  to 
death  if  they  were  provincials ;  those  Avho  were  Roman 
citizens  he  sent  to  Rome  for  the  Emperor's  final  decision. 

But  there  was  a  second  stage.  A  further  development  of 
the  matter  had  taken  place,  in  which  decision  on  the  part 
of  the  proprietor  was  not  so  easy  or  simple  a  matter. 
Emboldened  probably  by  the  success  of  their  first  informa- 
tion, the  informers,  through  the  instrumentality  of  an 
anonymous  writing,  denounced  to  the  Roman  governor  a 
very  large  number  of  other  persons  alleged  to  be  Christians. 

Further  trials  were  the  result  of  this  information.  In 
this  second  group  of  trials,  different  from  the  first  group 
(when  the  accused  doubtless  were  prominent  Christians  firm 
and  steadfast  in  their  faith),  there  were  some  who  entirely 
denied  that  they  had  ever  been  Christians  at  all ;  others  of 
the  accused,  terrified  at  the  thought  of  death,  forthwith 
recanted,  offered  incense  before  the  statue  of  Trajan  the 
Emperor,  and  reviled  Christ. 

Pliny  hesitated  whether  or  not  he  should  let  such 
repentant  persons  go  scot-free  without  punishment,  and 
referred  the  question  to  the  Emperor.  But  before  the  refer- 
ence was  sent  to  Rome  the  proprsetor  caused  a  searching  inquiry 
to  be  made  into  the  peculiar  life  led  by  these  Christians 
Avho  were  so  widely  hated.  Had  the  persons,  for  instance, 
who  had  so  readily  when  threatened  with  death  abjured 
the  religion,  been  guilty  in  the  exercise  of  their  peculiar  rites, 
of  any  of  the  secret  crimes  with  which  their  enemies  so 
freely  charged  them,  such  as  child-murder,  cannibalism, 
and  divers  dark  offences  against  morality  ?  Such  offences 
as  these,  had  they  been  committed,  surely  demanded  some 
punishment  (short,  perhaps,  of  death),  even  though  the 
offender  had  repented.  Those  who  recanted  were  strictly 
examined,  and  two  ministrce,  who  occupied  some  official 
position  (deaconesses,  no  doubt)  among  the  Christians,  being 
slaves,  were  interrogated  under  torture. 


TRAJAN   AND    HADRIAN.  Ill 

The  results  of  these  inquiries  Pliny  transmitted  to  the 
Emperor,  together  with  his  opinion.  He  (Pliny)  was  satis- 
fied that  these  secret  charges  of  wickedness  were  absolutely 
without  foundation.  He  reported  that  the  lives  led  by  the 
professors  of  the  unlawful  religion  were  innocent  and  simple. 
He  transmitted,  too,  in  his  report  a  fairly  accurate,  though 
somewhat  meagre  outline  of  Christian  worship  and  life 
which  he  had  gathered  in  the  course  of  his  searching 
inquiries.  The  votaries  of  the  unlawful  religion  were  in 
the  habit  of  meeting  before  sunrise  on  a  certain  day,  when 
they  used  to  sing  hymns  together  in  praise  of  Christ  as  God. 
They  had  the  custom,  too,  of  binding  themselves  by  a 
solemn  oath  (Sacramentum)  or  undertaking  never  to  commit 
theft,  adultery,  or  any  breach  of  trust,  and  subsequently  after 
the  religious  service  was  ended  they  would  gather  together 
for  an  innocent  repast.  He  concludes  that  this  Christianity 
was  nothing  more  than  a  "  superstitio  prava  immodica,"  a 
kind  of  superstitious  worship,  utterly  un-Roman;  hurtful  to 
the  State  in  that  it  inculcated  a  worship  hostile  to  that 
which  was  sanctioned  by  the  Government,  and  formed  an 
integral  part  of  the  life  led  by  the  loyal  citizens  of  the 
Empire."^ 

Pliny  besides  pointed  out  that  in  consequence  of  his 
energetic  (persecuting)  measures  a  great  improvement  had 
already  taken  place  in  the  provinces.  The  gods  of  Rome 
were  now  being  again  worshipped  by  crowds  who  had 
deserted  their  sanctuaries,  as  was  shown,  too,  by  a  marked 
improvement,  already  noticeable,  in  the  sale  of  the  fodder 
for  the  beasts  kept  for  sacrifice  at  the  heathen  altars,  and 
thus  a  grave  injury  to  lawful  trades  and  industries  which 
were  under  the  patronage  of  the  State  was  in  process  of 
being  remedied. 

The  answer  of  Trajan,  without  replying  formally  to  each  of 
Pliny's  references,  gives  a  general  summary  of  the  policy  which 
he  desired  should  be  pursued  in  the  relations  of  the  Empire 

*  The  Eoaian  religion,  the  worship  of  the  gods  of  Rome,  has  been  accurately 
described  as  "the  expression  of  Roman  patriotism,  the  bond  of  Roman  unity,  and 
the  pledge  of  Roman  prosperity." 


112  EARLY    CHBTSTIAXITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

to  the  Christian  sect.  First  the  Emperor  confirms  Phny's 
view  of  the  precedents  heretofore  followed  by  the  State; 
in  the  case  of  the  accused  persisting  in  styling  himself  a 
Christian  after  due  warnmg,  the  extreme  penalty  of  death 
would  follow.  In  the  various  instances  suggested  by  Pliny 
which  might  be  pleaded  as  supplying  extenuating  circum- 
stance, such  as  youth  or  sex,  a  free  hand  was  left  to  the 
magistrate.  Penitence,  recantation,  willing  public  compli- 
ance with  the  rites  of  the  Roman  religion,  were  in  all 
cases  to  be  deemed  sufficient.  An  accused  Christian  thus 
purged  must  at  once  be  set  at  liberty.  No  doubt  the 
Emperor  was  here  largely  influenced  by  Pliny's  strongly 
expressed  conviction  of  the  innocence  of  the  Christian  life 
and  the  harmless  nature  of  the  rites  practised  by  the  sect. 

Then  follows  a  very  merciful  direction,  which  plainly 
shows  that  the  great  Emperor  was  personally  averse  to  any 
new  harsh  persecuting  measures  being  devised  against  his 
Christian  subjects,  if  by  any  means  these  could  be  avoided. 
The  governor  of  a  province  was  not  to  search  for  Christians, 
nor  to  entertain  any  anonymous  accusations.  Only  in  the 
event  of  a  formal  accuser  coming  publicly  forward  must  the 
charge  be  formally  investigated ;  but  in  the  case  of  the  charge 
being  proven  (and  no  recantation  being  forthcoming),  the 
full  penalty  must,  in  accordance  with  Ptoman  precedent,  be 
inflicted. 

Briefly  to  sum  up  the  signification  of  the  Roman  precedent 
upon  which  Pliny  acted  in  the  case  of  his  death  sentences : 
The  action  of  Nero,  a.d.  64-8,  first  determined  the  relations 
of  the  Empire  towards  Christianity.  From  that  date  the 
profession  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  was  illegal,  and 
its  votaries  were  liable  to  the  penalty  of  death.  Under 
Vespasian  the  precedent  of  Nero  was  again  considered,  and 
confirmed  in  a  more  definite  shape.  The  correspondence  of 
Pliny  with  Trajan,  just  dwelt  upon,  marks  a  third  stage  and 
shows  us  how  in  a.d.  112-13  the  question  of  the  relations 
of  Christianity  and  the  Empire  was  again  under  considera- 
tion. It  was  once  more,  as  we  shall  see,  considered  by  the 
Emperor  Hadrian  a  few  years  later;   who,   however,  scarcely 


TRAJAN  AND    HADRIAN.  113 

altered  the  line  of  conduct  to  be  pursued  by  the  magistrates 
as  laid  down  by  Trajan.'^ 

The  State  correspondence  of  the  Emperor  Trajan  and  his 
friend  and  subordinate  the  Propraetor  Pliny,  possesses  for  the 
scholar  a  peculiar  importance,  as  it  shows  what  in  a.d.  112 
were  the  exact  relations  between  the  Imperial  Government 
and  the  Christian  Church ;  indicating,  too,  the  view  which 
an  upright  statesmen  and  lawyer  had  formed  of  the  sect 
which  in  so  marvellous  a  manner  had  taken  such  rapid  root 
in  the  complex  society  of  the  Empire — a  view  apparently 
partly  endorsed  by  a  wise  and  able  Emperor.f  For  the 
general  student  it  is  of  yet  greater  interest,  for  it  enables 
him,  on  the  evidence  of  a  Pagan  official  of  the  highest  char- 
acter and  ability,  to  form  an  estimate  of  the  great  numbers 
and  general  influence  in  an  important  province  of  the  Empire 


*  The  Church  and  the  Roman  Envpire.  Professor  Ramsay,  chapters  ix.-xiv.  ; 
where  the  Imperial  relations  with  Christianity  in  the  first  and  second  centuries  are 
discussed  at  some  length. 

t  Professor  Ramsay  {Ibid.,  chap.  x.  and  xi.),  in  the  course  of  a  long  and 
exhaustive  analysis  of  Pliny's  letter  and  the  Emjjeror's  answer,  suggests  that 
Plinj-'s  intention  in  consulting  the  Emperor  evidently  involved  something  more 
than  a  desire  to  ascertain  Trajan's  views.  The  governor  of  Bythinia  and 
Pontus  wished  and  hoped  that  the  State  policy  towards  the  Christians  should 
be  reconsidered,  and  he  went  as  far  as  he  could  without  directly  suggesting 
it  to  the  Emperor.  Attention  is  especially  called  to  the  striking  difference  in 
the  colour  of  the  latter  part  of  Pliny's  letter  from  that  observable  in  the  first 
part.  The  attitude  of  the  writer  is  changed ;  the  first  part  begins  with  direct 
condemnation,  but  this  passes  into  a  question  which  virtually  asks,  "  Should  he 
punish  Christians  at  all  ?  "  It  seems  as  though  "  the  writer  is  desirous  to  have 
the  policy  changed,  and  yet  shrinks  from  seeming  in  any  way  to  suggest  a  change. " 
This  scarcely  veiled  benevolent  wish  on  the  part  of  Pliny  evidently  sprang  from 
the  results  of  the  searching  examination  he  had  conducted  into  the  life  and  character 
of  the  accused  Christians. 

The  letter  of  Pliny,  it  is  clear,  exercised  considerable  influence  on  the  Emperor, 
who,  while  clearly  regarding  the  proscription  of  Christians  as  a  fundamental 
principle  of  Imperial  policy  which  he  did  not  choose  to  alter,  still  in  his  reply 
inaugurated  a  policy  milder  in  practice  that  that  before  pursued  towards  the 
Chi-istians. 

Ramsay  with  great  force  dwells  on  the  pleasant  thought  that  Pliny's  noble, 
although  cautious  pleading  for  the  Christians,  emanating  from  his  sense  of  what 
was  just  and  right,  was  the  deliberate  work  of  one  "  whose  life  gives  us  a  finer 
conception  than  any  other  of  the  character  of  the  Roman  gentleman  under  the 
Empire." 
I 


114  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  a  sect  of  religionists  whom  the  official,  of  whose  testimony- 
he  was  availing  himself,  distrusted  and  somewhat  disliked. 

We  have  already  seen  how  in  Italy,  and  especially  in 
Rome  at  a  yet  earlier  date,  in  the  year  64,  the  number  of 
Christians  was  very  considerable ;  so  large  that  Tacitus  speaks 
of  the  Christian  victims  of  Nero  as  "  a  great  multitude."  We 
Icnow,  too,  from  the  letters  of  Clement  to  the  Corinthians 
how  that  sorely  tried  Roman  community,  decimated  by  per- 
secution, had  again  before  the  first  century  closed  become  a 
great  power  among  the  Christians.  We  dwelt  on  the  flourish- 
ing churches  of  the  populous  and  wealthy  Proconsular  Asia, 
when  we  spoke  of  the  seven  letters  of  Ignatius  aiid  the  work 
of  Polycarp ;  and  now  we  learn  incidentally  from  the  corre- 
spondence of  a  well-known  provincial  governor  with  the 
Emperor  Trajan,  that  Christianity,  before  the  years  112-13, 
had  penetrated  into  the  more  remote  districts  of  northern 
Asia  Minor;  and  that  the  religion  of  Jesus  in  the  provinces 
of  Bithynia  and  Pontus  had  taken  such  a  hold  on  the  masses 
of  the  population  in  the  villages  and  rural  districts,  as  well 
as  in  the  cities,  that  the  temples  of  the  Roman  gods  were 
almost  deserted,  and  the  sacrificial  ritual  in  their  sacred 
shrines  was  interrupted  to  such  an  extent  as  to  interfere 
gravely  with  the  traders,  who  depended  largely  on  the  sale 
of  victims  provided  for  the  numerous  Pagan  sacrifices. 

Thus  from  these  chance  notices  we  can  gather  some  idea 
as  to  the  progress  Christianity  had  made — at  least  in  those 
countries  which  bordered  upon  or  were  adjacent  to  the 
Mediterranean  Sea — in  the  eighty  years  which  followed  the 
first  preaching  of  the  Resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus  by  the 
Apostles  in  Jerusalem,  the  city  where  His  deadly  enemies 
were  the  ruling  power. 

SECTIOX   II. — HADRIAN  :   FIRST   PERIOD. 

Some  twelve  years  after  the  famous  rescript  of  Trajan  to  the 
Proconsul  Pliny  on  the  subject  of  the  treatment  of  Christians 
formally  accused  before  a  State  tribunal,  another  rescript  was 
issued  from   the  Imperial   chancery   by  Trajan's  successor   in 


TRAJAN  AND    HADRIAN.  115 

the  Empire,  Hadrian,  on  the  same  subject.  The  eyidenee  for 
the  genuineness  of  this  second  rescript  has  been  carefully 
sifted,  and  the  opinion  of  most  competent  scholars^  is 
practically  unanimous  in  pronouncing  it  an  authentic  docu- 
ment. It  is  quoted  in  full  by  Justin  Martyr  in  his  first 
"  Apology  "  addressed  circa  a.d.  140-5  to  the  Emperor  Antoninus 
Pius ;  and  it  is  mentioned  by  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis,  in 
his  Apology  addressed  to  Marcus  Aurelius  some  thirty  years 
later. 

The  occasion  Avhich  called  forth  Hadrian's  rescript  was  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  Emperor  by  Silvanus  Granianus,  pro- 
consul of  Asia,  dwelling  upon  the  injustice  of  yielding  to 
popular  clamour  and  condemning  Christians  who  were  guilty 
of  no  crime,  simply  because  they  were  Christians,  on  the 
information  of  irresponsible  and  prejudiced  informers ;  similar 
remonstrances  seem  to  have  been  made  by  other  provincial 
governors  to  Hadrian.  The  letter  of  Granianus  was  ^viitten 
circa  a.d.  123-4,  and  the  Emperor's  reply  was  sent  in  the 
following  year  to  Minucius  Fundanus,  who  had  succeeded 
Granianus  in  the  government  of  the  province  of  Asia.  It 
would  seem  on  first  thoughts  that  there  was  scarcely  occasion 
for  any  provincial  governor  to  consult  the  Emperor  anew  on 
a  question  which  had  been  definitely  settled  about  twelve 
years  before  by  Trajan's  rescript  addressed  to  Pliny.  But  in 
truth  the  situation  had  considerably  changed  in  the  interval. 
The  Christian  communities  were  steadily  increasing;  popular 
jealousy  and  discontent  had  grown  too  ;  and  in  some 
districts  the  popular  unrest  had  evidently  attained  to  dis- 
turbing proportions.  It  is  clear,  also,  that  some  of  the  more 
just  and  generous  among  the  Roman  magistrates  v/ere  grieved 
at  having  to  yield  to  a  popular  clamour  which  called  upon 
them  to  persecute  and  to  harry  innocent,  law-abiding  persons. 
Hence  their  fresh  inquiries  addressed  to  the  Emperor  to 
learn  his  will  in  the  matter.  The  Emperor  Hadrian — whose 
character  will  be  presently  briefly  discussed — "  the  Olympian 
god  who  roamed  over  the  Empire  looking  into  every  religion, 

*  So  Moramsen,  Lightfoot,  Ramsay,  AUard,  who  all  agree  as  to  its  absolute 
genuineness. 


116  EABLY    CHRIS TIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

initiated  into  various  mysteries,  was  quite  alive  to  the  fact 
that  the  State  rehgion  was  probably  a  sham,"^  and  looked 
at  as  a  religion  was  a  failure  ;  but  he  knew  also  that  it  was 
the  keystone  of  the  Imperial  policy,  and  he  could  not,  or 
would  not,  face  the  task  of  altering  it.  He  leaves  the 
religious  question  quite  open,  and  lets  the  religious  sects 
fiofht  it  out  for  him  to  watch.  In  this  ordinance  about  a 
religion,  he  never  alludes  to  the  idea  of  religion.  No  other 
person  could  have  written  such  a  rescript,  and  without  any 
evidence  we  might  have  identified  it  as  Hadrian's." 

The  Imperial  document  followed  pretty  closely  the  rescript 
of  Trajan,  but  it  changed  some  of  the  directions,  and  the 
changes  were  on  the  lines  suggested  by  the  proconsul  to 
whose  query  it  was  the  formal  reply.  So  far  it  improved  the 
position  of  the  Christians.  It  required,  in  the  case  of  a 
Christian  prosecution,  definite  evidence,  and  further  it  ordered 
that  if  the  prosecutor  failed  to  prove  his  case  he  should  be 
exposed  to  severe  punishment.  The  whole  rescript  was 
studiously  vague,  leaving  much  to  the  magistrate's  discretion. 
The  original  principle,  however,  was  still  left  in  Hadrian's 
rescript,  viz.  that  if  the  governor  was  satisfied  that  the  accused 
was  a  Christian,  his  plain  duty  was  at  once  to  direct  his 
execution. 

Still  the  discouragement  of  mere  popular  clamour,  and 
the  severe  penalty  to  which  an  informer  might  be  subjected 
if  his  accusation  could  not  be  clearly  proven,  for  a  time 
made  the  position  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  in  the  Empire 
more  tolerable,  especially  in  those  provinces  where  a  just 
and  generous  governor  bore  sway.  It  seems  probable  that  at 
one  period  of  Hadrian's  reign  the  mind  of  the  Emperor  was 
somewhat  influenced  in  their  favour.  But  the  gleam  of 
Imperial  favour  was,  as  we  shall  see,  but  transitory. 

It  will  be  worth  while  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  career 
and    character   of    this    master    of    the   Roman    world    from 

*  Prof.  Ramsay,  The  Church  and  the  Roman  Empire,  chap.  xiv.  This 
epithet  f"  a  sham  "),  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer  of  this  history,  is  too  strong 
a  one.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  Emperors  who  followed  Augustus  looked  upon  the 
religion  of  Rome  as  a  "  sham."     This  is  discussed  later  in  Chapter  V. 


TBAJAN  AND    EABEIAN.  117 

A.D.  117  to  A.D.  138;  twenty-one  of  those  momentous  years 
when  the  foundation  stories  of  the  Christian  Church  were 
bein<^  laid  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  Empire  by  the  early 
builders — with  much  anxiety,  often  in  suffering,  but  always 
in  sure  hope,  Hadrian  in  many  respects  was  a  typical 
Roman  of  the  highest  class ;  and  his  conduct  towards  the 
Christian  sect,  which  in  his  days  had  already  expanded  into 
a  somewhat  important  community  in  the  Empire,  was  a 
fair  example  of  the  general  policy  of  the  Imperial  chancery 
in  its  dealings  with  Christians  all  through  those  years  of 
the  second  century  when  a  kindly,  well-disposed  Emperor 
was  on  the  throne.  How  quickly,  without  apparent  provo- 
cation, the  benevolent,  kindly  feeling  which  showed  itself 
in  a  partial  toleration  of  an  unlawful  religion,  which  it 
must  be  remembered  Christianity  ever  was,  could  change 
for  the  worse,  is  shown  in  the  harsh  persecuting  policy  which 
broke  out  in  the  closing  years  of  this  Emj)eror's  reign. 

Hadrian,  a  favourite  and  highly  trusted  relation  of 
Trajan,  was  only  formally  adopted  as  his  successor  to  the 
Empire  in  the  last  hours  of  the  great  Emperor's  Hfe ;  and 
some  even  doubt  if  this  formal  adoption  was  not  rather  the 
work  of  Trajan's  wife,  the  Empress  Plotina,  than  of  Trajan 
himself. 

There  was  no  real  opposition,  however,  to  his  succession, 
and  his  reign  was  singularly  free  from  all  plots  and  rebelHons. 
We  except,  of  course,  the  great  Je^^dsh  revolt  which  happened 
far  on  in  the  peaceful  and  prosperous  reign.  Hadrian  was 
an  exceptionally  brilliant  genius ;  comparatively  little  has 
come  down  to  us  from  Pagan  chronicles  respecting  his  iimer 
life,  but  we  are  told  that  he  was  at  once  painter  and  sculptor, 
musician,  poet,  and  grammarian.  The  number  of  cities 
which  bear  his  name  in  different  provinces  of  the  Empire 
demonstrate  the  truth  of  the  assertion  that  he  was  an 
enthusiastic  builder ;  an  antiquarian,  too,  who  prided  himself 
on  his  genius  for  research.  After  making  all  allowances  for 
the  too  flattering  estimate  of  his  abilities,  which  naturally 
would  be  made  by  the  contemporaries  of  an  all-powerful 
sovereign,  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  real  powers  of  the  Emperor 


118  EARLY    CHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Hadrian,  powers  which  he  loved  to  exercise  generally  for 
the  public  weal.  His  government  was  distinguished  by 
innumerable  acts  of  public  munificence;  countless  cities 
were  beautified  and  adorned  by  such  works  of  utility  as 
aqueducts  and  baths.  History  relates  how  other  great 
princes  in  different  ages  spent  a  considerable  portion  of 
their  lives  in  travel.  But  while  the  distant  foreign  expedi- 
tions of  Alexander  the  Great  and  Caesar,  of  Charlemagne 
and  Saint  Louis,  of  Charles  V.  and  the  great  Napoleon, 
were  solely  for  the  purposes  of  war,  the  Emperor  Hadrian 
is,  perhaps,  the  solitary  example  recorded  in  history  of  a 
sovereign  spending  fifteen  years  in  visiting  his  vast  dominions 
solely  in  the  interests  of  peace.  Memorials  of  this  strange 
reign  of  Imperial  travel  can  be  traced  in  Britain,  Gaul, 
Africa,  Egypt,  and  those  wide  provinces  of  Asia  which  in 
the  great  days  of  Italian  supremacy  were  under  the  rule 
of  Rome. 

His  character  was  made  up  of  strange  iind  startling  con- 
trasts. Usually  almost  an  ascetic  in  the  rigorous  plainness 
of  his  private  repasts,  he  was  famous,  too,  in  that  age  of 
self-indulgence  and  luxury  for  the  wild  excesses  of  his  public 
banquets.  Again,  he  prided  himself  on  his  knowledge  of 
philosophy  and  his  powers  of  philosophic  argument,  and  yet 
we  find  him  dabbling  in  occult  and  hidden  mysteries,  filling 
the  position  of  high  Pontiff  as  well  as  of  an  Arval  brother, 
of  one  who  was  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  Eleusis  and 
the  secrets  of  the  life  to  come."^ 

Hadrian  was  the  author  and  inspirer  of  much  wise  and 
benevolent  legislation ;  more  especially  the  sad  lot  of  the  vast 

*  If  the  well-known  lines  on  the  fate  of  the  soul  after  death  with  which 
Hadrian  is  credited,  were  written  by  him  in  his  last  days,  he  had  gathered 
surely  but  little  comfort  from  his  Eleusinian  teachers. 

"  Animula,  vagula,  blaudula 
Comes  hospesque  corporis 
Qufe  nunc  abibis  in  loca  ? 
Pallidula  frigida  nudula 
Nee  lit  soles,  dabis  jocos." 

Yet  he  once  was  very  near  those  who  could  have  given  an  answer  to  his 
question. 


HADRIAN. 

In  the  British  Museum. 


TRAJAN  AND    HABBIAN.  119 

slave   class,   the   curse   of  Rome,  was  sensibly  ameliorated  by 
his  wise  and   merciful   laws ;    yet   the   sovereign's   private   life 
was  disfigured  with  shameless,  even  with  nameless,  immorality. 
Again,  it  is  difficult  to   pronounce   whether  or  no   mercy   or 
cruelty  were  the  special  features  of  Hadrian's  complex  character. 
The  assassination   of  prominent   personages   who   might  have 
proved  formidable   competitors   for   the   purple  at   the   outset 
of  his  reign  shocked  and  dismayed  Rome,  and   at   first   fears 
were    entertained    in    the    metropolis    that    the    age    of    the 
tyranny  of  a  Nero  or  a  Domitian  was  about  to  be  repeated. 
But   many   years    of  a   comparatively    gentle    and    just    rule 
followed  this  first  burst  of  reckless  bloodshed,  and  the   early 
cruelties   which   disfigured   the  beginnings   of    his    rule    were 
in   time  forgotten.      Then   in   the   last  years   of  his   brilliant 
reign   the   cruel   spirit   seemed   once   more   to  awaken  in   the 
failing  Emperor,   circa   a.d.    134-5,   or   a  little    earlier.      The 
shock  of  the  Jewish   war   and   its   dreadful  slaughter;    failure 
of    strength,    accompanied    with    ever    increasing    pain    and 
weariness ;  have   been   pleaded    as   excuses    for   this    changed 
and    sombre    spirit    which    overshadowed    the    three    or    four 
years  preceding   the   Emperor's   death.      A  long   list   of  pro- 
scriptions   in    which    some    of    the    noblest   of    the    Romans 
perished,  among  whom  some  of  his  own  kinsfolk  were  included, 
alarmed   and   disturbed   the   public   mind ;    no   one   was    safe 
from    the    jealous   suspicions   of    the   sick    tyrant,    to    whose 
insane   and   baseless   terrors    the   highest   and    the   lowest    in 
their   turn   would   fall    victims.      It   was   a   melancholy   close 
to  a  very  brilliant  and  generally  prosperous  rule.     His  many 
good   deeds   were   completely   forgotten    in   the  gloomy   reign 
of  terror   of  the   closing  years,   and   he   passed   away   amidst 
the  execrations  of  the  people  over  whom  he  had  long  ruled 
Avisely  and  well.     The  Senate  even  wrote  publicly  to  condemn 
his    memory,    and  would  have   indignantly   refused   to   grant 
him   the   usual   posthumous   divine   honours   paid   to   a    dead 
Emperor,  had  not  the  devoted  piety  of  his  adopted  successor, 
known   in   history   as   Antoninus    Pius,   disarmed  their  wrath, 
and   induced  them    very   reluctantly   to   give   him   his    place 
among  the  gods  of  Rome. 


120  EARLY    CRRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

It  was  diirmg  this  melanclioly  period  that  his  conduct 
towards  the  Christians  completely  changed,  and  the  bitter 
persecution  of  which  we  shall  presently  speak  was  directed 
against  those  quiet  and  ever  loyal  subjects  of  the  Empire ; 
adding  not  a  few  to  the  long  list  of  martyrs  and  confessors 
of  the  faith,  some  of  whose  names  have  been  preserved  in 
the  Church's  Martyrologies. 


SECTION    III. — HADRIAN:    THE    TRAGEDY    OF    THE    JEWS. 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  Hadrian  that  the  final  expatriation 
of  the  Jews  from  Jerusalem  and  its  neighbourhood  took 
place,  under  circumstances  accompanied  with  the  most  awful 
bloodshed. 

The  story  of  the  Jews  for  a  hundred  years  after  the 
tragedy  of  Golgotha  is  one  of  the  saddest  in  history.  Three 
times  the  passionate  hatred  of  the  race  flamed  out  in  open 
revolt  against  their  Roman  conquerors  and  oppressors.  The 
numbers  who  perished  in  these  Jewish  wars  are  possibly 
exaggerated,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  nmst  be  counted 
at  least  by  tens  of  thousands. 

The  great  and  crowning  victory  of  Titus  and  the  destruction 
of  the  Temple  and  part  of  the  city  in  a.d.  70,  with  its  frightful 
carnage,  did  not  prove  sufficient  to  break  the  stubborn  spirit 
of  resistance.  In  the  reign  of  Trajan  a  grave  revolt  took 
place,  and  spread  over  Cyprus,  part  of  Egypt,  and  North 
Africa.  This  was  got  under ;  but  a  far  more  formidable 
rebellion  stained  the  latter  years  of  the  comparatively  peaceful 
period  of  Hadrian  with  literal  torrents  of  blood.  The  scene 
of  this  last  insurrection  was  Judsea,  and  especially  the  im- 
mediate neighbourhood  of  the  desecrated  holy  city.  In  this 
revolt  or  rebellion  the  danger  to  the  Empire  was  considered 
so  grave  that  Hadrian  summoned  from  distant  Britain  Julius 
Severus,  who  was  reputed  to  be  the  ablest  of  his  generals, 
and  appointed  him  as  commander  of  the  Roman  army  of 
Judaja.  The  fierce  war — a  war  not  merely  waged  for  national 
independence,   but   further  embittered   by  the  burning   desire 


TUAJAN   AND    HADRIAN.  121 

to  rescue  their  holiest  Hebrew  sanctuary  from  Pagan  dese- 
cration— was  protracted  for  a  considerable  period.  In  its 
course,  fifty  strongholds  were  stormed,  nine  hundred  and 
eighty-five  cities  and  villages  were  razed  to  the  ground,  five 
hundred  and  eighty  thousand  persons  are  said  to  have  perished 
by  the  sword,  by  famine,  or  by  pestilence.  So  say  the  chroniclers 
of  this  deadly  struggle,  who  have  probably  somewhat  exag- 
gerated the  numbers  of  cities  razed  and  strongholds  destroyed. 
What  remained  of  the  holy  city,  already  partially  overthrown 
by  Titus,  was  levelled  to  the  ground.  The  site  of  the  Temple 
was  symbolically  sown  with  salt,  and  a  new  Pagan  city  arose 
on  the  site  of  the  loved  Zion,  under  the  new  name  of  ^Elia, 
with  its  Roman  theatre,  its  baths,  and  its  temples ;  the  image 
of  the  Emperor  being  erected  side  by  side  with  that  of 
Jupiter  Capitolinus,  The  Jew  was  forbidden  ever  to  enter 
the  new  Pagan  city ;  only  once  a  year  was  he  suffered  to 
come  near,  that  he  might  weep  and  mourn  over  the  grave 
of  his  vanished  hopes.  In  the  Jewish  liturgies  the  memory 
of  their  last  and  crushing  desolation  was  preserved  by  solemn 
prayers,  when  on  the  anniversary  of  the  victory  of  Hadrian 
the  Lord  of  Hosts  was  supplicated  to  punish  this  second 
Nebuchadnezzar,  who  was  said  to  have  destroyed  four  hundred 
and  eighty  synagogues  of  the  chosen  people. 

The  result  of  this  final  and  complete  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  and  desolation  of  the  Holy  Land,  was  far-reaching 
in  its  effects  upon  Christianity.  The  last  link  in  the  connection 
of  the  Church  and  the  Synagogue  was  now  snapped.  The  link 
in  question  had  been  the  Jewish-Christian  community  of 
Jerusalem,  Dating  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  the  Church 
of  Jerusalem  had  ever  been  presided  over  by  one  who  was  a 
Jew  by  birth.  The  community  still  exacted  circumcision  from 
its  members ;  it  observed  the  Jewish  fasts  and  feasts,  while 
at  the  same  time  it  taught  faithfully  the  fundamental  Christian 
doctrines.  The  Church  of  Jerusalem  was  respected  and 
venerated  throughout  Christendom  as  the  Church  which  not 
only  owed  its  foundation  to  the  Apostles,  but  was  sanctified 
by  the  blood  of  the  first  martyr.  To  the  Jewish  convert  it 
was  especially  dear,  as  it  still  practised  the  rites  and  ceremonies 


122  EARLY    CHEISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  the  chosen  race.  But  after  the  war  of  Hadrian,  the  Jew  of 
Palestine  was  for  ever  banished  from  the  scenes  of  the  old 
Hebrew  glories,  and  the  Christian  Church  of  the  Circumcision 
from  henceforth  virtually  ceased  to  exist ;  what  remained  of  it 
was  soon  incorporated  with  other  foreign  Gentile  communities, 
but  there  was  no  longer  a  Jewish  centre  in  Christendom. 

A  strange  anomaly,  however,  here  presents  itself  to  the 
historian  of  the  early  Christian  Church,  and  one  that  must 
be  at  all  events  briefly  dwelt  upon,  as  it  tells  us  something 
of  the  position  of  Christians  in  the  second  and  third  cen- 
turies in  the  Pagan  world  of  Rome.  It  discloses  something 
of  the  feelings  generally  entertained  towards  them  by  the 
Roman  Government.  It  helps  to  explain  some  of  the  causes 
of  the  repeated  persecutions  which  harassed  the  Church 
during  the  first  two  hundred  and  eighty  years  of  its  existence. 

The  Jew  was  the  bitterest,  the  most  stubborn  foe  the 
Roman  ever  encountered.  Three  formidable  revolts  against 
the  Roman  rule  in  the  times  of  Titus,  Trajan,  and  Hadrian, 
had  to  be  put  down  at  an  enormous  expense  of  blood  and 
treasure :  on  a  smaller  scale — for  their  powers  of  resistance 
had  been  well-nigh  stamped  out — the  Jews  rose  again  in 
rebellion  in  the  course  of  the  reigns  of  both  the  Antonines 
and  of  Septimius  Severus ;  and  yet,  strangely  enough,  we 
never  find  them  prevented  from  worshipping  in  accordance 
with  their  especial  tenets,  during  or  after  their  repeated 
and  serious  insurrections.  The  Jewish  race,  after  all  its 
unheard-of  calamities,  still  continued  to  exist,  if  it  did  not 
flourish,  and  few  indeed  were  the  Roman  centres  of  popula- 
tion in  the  second  and  third  centuries  without  a  Jewish 
synagogue.  Contrary  to  all  the  ordinary  laws  of  history  its 
extraordinary  vitality  preserved  it  from  extinction,  apparently 
even  from  diminution  of  its  numbers ;  for  after  the  fear- 
ful war  of  extermination  under  the  lieutenants  of  Hadrian  we 
still  find  the  Jew  in  such  centres  as  Rome,  Alexandria,  or 
Carthage,  living  and  trading  much  as  before  the  tremendous 
calamities.  Nor  was  he  persecuted.  Unhindered,  he  went 
to  the  synagogue,  openly  he  practised  all  the  observances  of 
his   cherished    religion.       Later    we  even    find    the    Emperor 


TRAJAN   AXD    EADBIAX.  123 

Severus  specially  sanctioning  the  assumption  of  municipal 
offices  by  the  Jews,  and  certainly  in  their  case  formally 
dispensing  with  the  ordinary  Roman  rehgious  rites  which 
invariably  formed  part  of  the  ceremonies  attached  to  such  offices. 
We  never  hear  of  a  Jew  being  haled  before  a  magistrate  on 
account  of  the  religion  which  it  was  well  known  he  professed, 
never  of  his  being  required  to  swear  by  the  "  Genius  of  Cssar," 
or  to  scatter  grains  of  incense  on  the  altar  of  a  Pagan  deity. 

On  the  other  hand  the  Christian — against  whom  no 
charge  of  disloyalty  to  Caesar  was  ever  advanced,  who  in 
Rome,  as  in  the  most  remote  provinces,  was  ever  the  strict 
law-abiding  citizen,  w^ho  never  shared  in  any  rising  or 
rebellion  against  the  Emperor  or  the  constituted  powers  of 
the  State — during  the  two  hundred  and  eighty  years 
which  followed  the  Resurrection  of  the  Master,  lived  with 
a  sword  ever  suspended  by  a  very  slender  strand  above  his 
head  in  a  state  of  perpetual  outlawry,  with  the  sentence  of 
condemnation  ever  ready  to  be  launched  against  him,  with 
the  hideous  penalty  of  a  cruel  death  prepared  to  be  exacted 
of  him ;  a  sentence  and  a  penalty  only  temporarily  suspended 
at  certain  periods  of  careless  toleration  or  of  fitful  generosity. 

What  was  the  secret  of  this  strange  contrast  between  the 
behaviour  of  the  Roman  authorities  in  all  the  provinces  of 
the  great  Empire  in  the  case  of  the  turbulent  Jew,  and  their 
behaviour  in  the  case  of  the  patient,  law-abiding  Christian  ? 

The  truth  was  that  the  Imperial  Government,  when 
once  the  Hebrew  nationality  Avas  destroyed,  ceased  altogether 
to  fear  the  Jews.  They  seemed  but  the  poor  remnant  of  a 
vanquished  nation,  interesting  now  rather  than  formidable, 
welcome  always  as  traders,  money-lenders,  and  the  hke,  useful 
especially  as  the  bitter,  irreconcilable  foes  of  the  Christian, 
whom  the  Romans  did  fear,  v/ith,  perhaps,  an  indefinable 
dread. 

There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  dominant  factor  in 
the  strange  hatred  of  the  Romans  for  everything  connected 
with  Christianity  was  fear.  The  trader,  it  is  true,  often 
disliked  the  Christian  with  a  sordid  antipathy,  because  he 
spoiled  the  various  markets   open   to   him  in  connection  with 


124  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

the  sacrifices  and  ritual  belonging  to  the  gods  of  Rome ; 
but  the  statesman,  the  serious  thinker  who  in  his  heart, 
not  always  but  at  times,  was  too  conscious  that  the  religion 
of  the  Empire  was  largely  unreal,  had  an  uneasy  conviction 
that  in  the  proscribed  and  hated  faith  there  was  real  Hfe 
and  genuine  power.  Those  who  were  acquainted  with  some- 
thing of  its  wondrous  story  were  well  aware  how  rapidly, 
in  spite  of  the  crushing  disabilities  under  which  the  members 
of  the  proscribed  sect  ever  lived,  it  had  gained  ground,  and 
was  ever  gaining  ground,  not  in  Rome  only,  but  in  most 
of  the  cities  and  provinces  of  the  vast  Empire. 

There  were  many  who,  with  unfeigned  dismay,  watched 
its  quiet,  silent,  onward  march,  and  who  marked  well  its 
marvellous  and  ever  growing  influence.  Scarcely  a  family, 
as  the  second  century  waned,  but  some  member  in  it 
belonged  to  the  secret  powerful  community  of  Christians, 
and  that  member — slave  or  mistress,  freedman  or  master — 
from  the  moment  of  becoming  a  Christian  became  also  at 
once  the  unresting,  untiring  emissary  of  the  faith.  No 
threat  seemed  to  terrify  those  Christians,  no  punishment, 
however  terrible,  had  any  effect  on  them — torture  and  death 
were  welcomed  rather  than  shunned.  A  superhuman  energy 
appeared  to  live  and  work  in  their  ranks,  an  energy  which 
inspired  with  heroic  courage  men  and  women  drawn  from 
all  classes,  ages,  sexes ;  a  princess  of  the  Imperial  house  like 
Domitilla  in  Rome,  an  aged  teacher  like  Polycarp  at  Smyrna, 
a  slave  girl  like  Blandina  at  Lyons,  a  young  and  cultured 
lady  like  Perpetua  at  Carthage,  in  different  Imperial  reigns, 
were  similarly  strengthened  by  this  unearthly  power  which 
lived  in  the  Christian  sect. 

Before  such  a  spirit  as  that  which  inspired  the  humblest 
votaries  of  the  new  religion,  and  which,  as  time  went  on, 
showed  no  signs  of  weakness  or  exhaustion,  the  gods  of 
Rome,  who  were  after  all,  as  some  could  not  help  realising, 
but  a  shadowy  unreality,  must  surely  in  the  end  go  down. 
And  the  long  line  of  the  great  Roman  statesmen  who  were 
persuaded  that  the  old  State  religion,  with  its  immemorial 
traditions,  was  the  keystone  of  the  Imperial  policy,  the  policy 


TRAJAN  AND    HADRIAN.  125 

which  had  built  up  and  was  the  bulwark  of  Kome's  world- 
wide Empire,  not  unnaturally  viewed  Christianity  as  the 
Empire's  deadliest  foe,  an  enemy  which  must  be  stamped  out, 
destroyed — "  delenda  est  Carthago." 

This  was  the  secret  reason  of  the  changeless  policy  which 
persecuted  the  Christians  whom  Rome  feared,  while  it  spared 
and  even  favoured  the  Jews,  whom  Rome  in  its  heart  despised. 


SECTION     IV. — CHRISTIAN    LIFE    UNDER    HADRIAN    AS    PRESENTED 
BY   EARLY   CHRISTIAN   APOLOGISTS. 

We  have  dwelt  a  little  on  the  life  and  character  of  the  famous 
Emperor  Hadrian,  who  certainly  for  the  first  sixteen  years 
of  his  reign  very  gently  interpreted  the  Imperial  precedents, 
which  with  one  consent  determined  to  regard  the  Christian 
communities  as  composed  of  outlaws  who  had  incurred  the 
extreme  penalty  of  the  Roman  law.  Some  have  even  chosen 
to  regard  Hadrian  as,  in  one  portion  of  his  reign,  positively 
inclined  to  favour  the  worshippers  of  Jesus.  The  tendency  of 
his  rescript  to  Minucius  Fundanus,  of  which  we  have  spoken, 
was  certainly  in  this  direction ;  for  it  allowed  a  kindly  pro- 
vincial governor  effectually  to  discourage  any  attempt  at 
persecution. 

Encouraged,  apparently,  by  the  benevolent  attitude  of  the 
all-powerful  master  of  the  Roman  world,  two  Christian  scholars 
ventured  to  approach  the  throne  and  publicly  to  defend  the 
proscribed  and  dreaded  faith.  The  first  of  these  formal 
Apologies  for  Christianity  was  presented  to  Hadrian  at  the 
time  of  one  of  the  Imperial  visits  to  Athens  by  Quadratus,  who 
was,  some  scholars  think,  the  Quadratus  distinguished  for  his 
prophetical  gifts  referred  to  by  Eusebius  "^  as  a  disciple  of  the 
Apostles.  The  work  of  Quadratus  has  not  come  down  to  us. 
But  Eusebius  has  given  us  from  it  some  strikmg  sentences 
which  suggest  power  and  originality,  and  seem  besides  to  imply 
that  the  writer  had  been  personally  acquainted  with  some  of 

*  S.  E.,  iii.  37,  v.  17.  If,  however,  it  is  this  Quadratus  he  must  have 
reached  a  great  age  -when  he  presented  his  "Apology"  to  the  Emperor. 


126  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

those  who  had  seen  the  Lord.  The  passage  is  a  very  remarkable 
one,  and  runs  as  follows  :  "  The  works  of  our  Saviour  w^ere  ever 
present,  for  they  were  real ;  [they  were]  those  who  were  healed, 
those  that  were  raised  from  the  dead,  who  were  seen  not  only 
when  healed  and  when  raised,  but  were  always  present.  They 
remained  living  a  long  time,  not  only  whilst  our  Lord  was  on 
earth,  but  likewise  Avhen  He  had  left  the  earth,  so  that  some  of 
these  have  also  survived  even  to  our  own  times." 

The  other  apologist,  Aristides,  Eusebius  describes  as  "  a 
man  faithfully  devoted  to  the  religion  we  profess."  Like 
Quadratus,  he  has  left  to  posterity  a  defence  of  the  faith, 
addressed  to  the  Emperor  Hadrian.  "  Their  works,"  says  the 
historian,  "  are  also  preserved  by  a  great  number,  even  to  the 
present  day"  (i.e.  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  century).  The 
''Apology"  of  Aristides  was  for  ages  among  the  lost  works  of  early 
Christianity,  and  was  only  quite  lately  re-discovered  in  part  and 
published,  in  an  Armenian  version,  by  the  learned  Armenians 
of  the  Lazarist  monastery  at  Venice.  Since  then,  in  the  year  1889, 
a  Syriac  rendering  of  the  whole  text  of  the  long  missing  work 
was  found  in  the  library  of  the  Convent  of  S.  Catherine,  upon 
Mount  Sinai ;  and  in  the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  Greek  text,  with  very  slight  modifications,  was  found  to  be 
embedded  in  the  famous  romance  of  "  SS.  Baalaam  and 
Josaphat " — a  writing  that  dates  from  the  sixth  century  or 
earlier,  and  once  enjoyed  an  extraordinary  popularity.  Thus^ 
thanks  to  the  research  of  modern  scholars,  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  the  lost  early  Christian  Avritings  has  been  restored 
to  us  in  Greek  and  in  Syriac,  and  a  portion  of  it  in  Armenian.* 

The  "  Apology "  of  Aristides  is  of  singular  interest  to  the 


*  Compare  "The  Apology  of  Aristides"  in  the  Cambridge  Texts  and  Studies 
(Mr.  S.  Keader  Harris  and  Canon  Armitage  Kobinson),  1893;  and  AUard,  Sist. 
des  Persecutions,  vol.  i.  iii.  On  the  question  whether  the  "  Apology "  of 
Aristides  was  addressed  to  the  Emperor  Hadrian  or  to  his  successor,  Antoninus 
Pius  some  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  later,  see  Texts  and  Studies,  pp.  6-12, 
and  AUard,  i.  iii.  pp.  253-4,  the  French  scholar  preferring  the  earlier  date  as 
given  hy  Eusebius  and  Jerome  to  the  latter  date  in  the  reign  of  Antoninus 
Pius,  which  is  piaintained  in  the  Texts  and  Studies,  and  by  Harnack  and 
De  Eossi.  Hadrian  reigned  a.d.  117-38;  Antoninus  Pius  succeeded  him  in  the 
Empire. 


TPxAJAX  AND    HADRIAN'.  127 

historian  of  early  Christianity ;  for  in  the  course  of  his  argument 
for  the  truth  of  the  rehgion  of  Jesus,  the  writer  hfts  the  veil 
which  hangs  over  the  inner  life  aimed  at  and  largely  followed 
by  those  Christian  communities  which  had  sprung  into  existence 
in  so  many  of  the  important  cities  of  the  Empire  during  the 
thirty  or  forty  years  which  followed  the  death  of  S.  John.  AVe 
will  give  some  of  the  very  w^ords  of  Aristides.  They  are  at 
once  simple  and  beautiful,  and  give  us  a  unique  picture  of 
early  Christian  life  and  conduct.* 

"  Now  the  Christians,  O  King,t  by  going  about  and 
seeking,  have  found  the  truth.  .  .  .  They  know  and  beheve 
in  God  the  Maker  of  Heaven  and  earth  .  .  .  from  whom 
they  have  received  those  commandments  which  they  have 
engraved  on  their  minds,  which  they  keep  in  the  hope  and 
expectation  of  the  world  to  come ;  so  that  on  this  account 
they  do  not  commit  adultery  or  fornication,  they  do  not 
bear  false  witness  .  .  .  nor  covet  what  is  not  theirs,  they 
honour  father  and  mother,  they  do  good  to  those  who  are 
their  neighbours  .  .  .  those  who  grieve  them  they  comfort, 
and  make  them  their  friends,  and  they  do  good  to  them, 
and  they  do  good  to  their  enemies.  Their  wives,  O  King, 
are  pure  as  virgins,  and  their  daughters  modest,  and  their 
men  abstain  from  all  unlawful  wedlock  and  from  all  im- 
purity, in  the  hope  of  the  recompense  that  is  to  come  in 
another  world  ;  but  as  for  their  servants  and  handmaids  .  .  . 
they  persuade  them  to  become  Christians  from  the  love 
that  they  have  towards  them ;  and  when  they  have  become  so, 
they  call  them  without  distinction  brethren  .  .  .  they  walk 
in  all  humility  and  kindness,  and  falsehood  is  not  found 
among  them,  and  they  love  one  another.  From  the  widows 
they  do  not  turn  away  their  countenance,  and  they  rescue 
the  orphan  from  him  w^ho  does  him  violence ;  and  he  who 
has  gives  to  him  who  has  not,  and  when  they  see  the  stranger 

*  The  extracts  are  translated  from  the  Syrian  version  of  the  "  Apology." 
See  Texts  and  Studies,  pp.  48-60   (above  referred  to),  Cambridge,  1893. 

f  The  "King"  addresssed  is  either  the  Emperor  Hadrian  or  the  Emperor 
Antoninus  Pius.  It  must  be  remembered  that  Eusebius  and  Jerome  both  explicitl}- 
tell  us  that  the  first  of  them — Hadrian — is  addressed. 


128  EARLY    GEBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

they  bring  him  to  their  dwelhngs  and  rejoice  over  him  as 
over  a  true  brother  .  .  .  When  one  of  their  poor  passes  away 
from  the  world,  and  any  one  of  them  sees  him,  then  he 
provides  for  his  burial  according  to  his  ability  ;  and  if  they 
hear  that  any  of  their  number  is  imprisoned  or  oppressed 
for  the  name  of  their  Messiah,  all  of  them  provide  for  his 
needs,  and  if  it  is  possible  that  he  may  be  delivered,  they 
deliver  him, 

"  And   if  there   is   among   them  a   man   that  is   poor  and 

needy,  and  they  have  not  abundance  of  necessaries,  they  fast 

two  or   three   days   that    they    may    supply    the   needy   with 

their  necessary   food.       And    they    observe    scrupulously    the 

commandments   of    their    Messiah,    they     live    honestly    and 

soberly  as    the   Lord   their    God    commanded    them.       Every 

morning  and   at   all  hours,   on   account   of    the  goodness    of 

God    toward    them,   they   praise    and    laud    Him,    and    over 

their   food   and   over   their    drink    they   render    Him   thanks. 

And  if  any  righteous   person   of    their  number   passes    away 

from   the  world,  they   rejoice   and  give   thanks   to   God,   and 

they  follow  his  body,  as  if  he  were  moving   from  one   place 

to  another.     And  when  a  child  is   born  to  any  one  of  them 

they  praise  God,  and  if  again  it  chance  to  die  in  its  infancy 

they  praise  God  mightily  as  for  one  who  has  passed  through 

the   world   without  sins.     And   if  again  they  see   that  one  of 

their   number   has   died   in   his   iniquity  or   in    his   sins,  over 

this   one   they   weep   bitterly   and   sigh,  as    over   one  who   is 

about   to   go  to   his   punishment.      Such   is   the  ordinance  of 

the  laws  of  the  Christians,  0   King,  and  such  their  conduct. 

"  As   men  who   know    God,  they  ask  from    Him   petitions 

which  are  proper  for  Him  to  grant  and  for  them  to  receive, 

and  thus  they  accomplish  the  course  of  their  lives.  .  .  .  And 

because    they    acknowledge    the  goodnesses   of    God    towards 

them,   lo  !  on   account  of  them   there   flows   forth  the   beauty 

that   is   in   the   world.  .  .  .  But   the   good    deeds   which   they 

do   they  do   not   proclaim  in  the   ears  of  the  multitude,  and 

they  take   care   that   no   one  shall  perceive  them ;   they  hide 

their  eift  as  he  who  has  found  a  treasure  and  hides  it.     And 

they  labour   to    become    righteous   as    those    who    expect  to 


TBAJAN  AND    HADRIAN.  129 

see  their  Messiah  and  to  receive  from  Him  the  promises 
made  to  them  with  great  glory.  .  .  .  But  their  sayings  and 
their  ordinances,  0  King,  and  the  glory  of  their  service, 
and  the  expectation  of  their  recompense  of  reward  according 
to  the  doing  of  each  one  of  them,  which  they  expect  in  another 
world,  thou  art  able  to  know  from  their  writings.  .  .  .  Truly 
great  and  wonderful  is  their  teaching,  to  him  that  is  wilhng 
to  examine  and  understand  it.  .  .  .  Take  now  these  writings 
and  read  in  them,  and  lo  !  you  will  find  that  not  of  myself 
have  I  brought  these  things  forward,  nor  as  their  advocate 
have  I  said  them,  but  as  I  have  read  in  their  writings,  these 
things  I  firmly  believe,  and  those  things  that  are  to  come. 
...  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  world  stands  by  reason  of 
the  intercession  of  Christians.  .  .  .  The  Christians  are  honest 
and  pious,  and  the  truth  is  set  before  their  eyes,  and  they 
are  long-suffering,  and  therefore  while  they  know  their 
error  {i.e.  of  the  Greeks,  or  Pagans),  and  are  buffeted  by 
them,  the  more  exceedingly  do  they  pity  them  as  men 
who  are  destitute  of  knowledge,  and  in  their  behalf  they 
offer  up  prayers  that  they  may  be  turned  from  their  error. 
.  .  .  Truly  blessed  is  the  race  of  Christians  more  than  all  men 
that  are  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  .  .  .  Their  teaching  is  the 
gateway  of  light ;  let  all  those  then  approach  thereunto  who 
do  not  know  God,  and  let  them  receive  incorruptible  words, 
those  (words)  which  are  so  always  and  from  eternity ;  let 
them  therefore  anticipate  the  dread  judgment  which  is  to 
come  by  Jesus  the  Messiah  upon  the  whole  race  of  men. 
"  The  Apology  of  Aristides  the  philosopher  is  ended." 
In  our  sketch  of  the  inner  life  of  the  very  early  Church 
{circa,  as  we  think,  a.d.  124-30)  which  we  are  drawing  from 
the  picture  of  the  life  painted  so  vividly  in  this  "  Apology 
of  Aristides,"  we  must  not  omit  the  dogmatic  references. 
These  are,  as  we  should  expect  in  the  circumstances  (a 
Pagan  sovereign  and  his  court  being  addressed  by  the 
apologist),  most  simple  and  elementary  in  character,  though 
they  include  the  more  important  fimdamental  doctrmes  of 
Christianity.  That  a  creed,  very  similar  to  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  was  current  in  these  very  early  Christian  communities, 
J 


130  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

of  which  Aristides  was  writing,  is  evident;  and  this  creed 
can  be  without  difficulty  reconstructed,  at  any  events  in  large 
part,  from  the  expressions  used  in  the  "  Apology." 

The  fraofments  of  Aristides'  creed  are  as  follows : — * 


"&' 


"  We  believe  in  one  God,  Almighty, 
Maker  of  Heaven  and  Earth, 
And  in  Jesus  Christ,  His  Son, 

Born  of  the  Virgin  Mary.f 

He  was  pierced  by  the  Jews, 
He  died  and  was  buried, 
The  third  day  He  rose  again. 
He  ascended  into  heaven. 

He  is  about  to  come  to  judge." 

Nothing  is  said  about  the  sacraments,  baptism  or  the  eucharist. 
This  omission  is  naturally  accounted  for.  The  document  we 
are  citing  was  simply  an  "  apology "  addressed  to  a  Pagan 
auditor;  whereas,  in  a  treatise  probably  older  than  that  of 
Aristides,  the  Didache,  or  "  Teaching  of  the  Apostles,"  written 
for  believers,  the  two  great  sacraments  in  question  occupy  a 
prominent  place.  In  Aristides,  however,  the  liturgical  refer- 
ences are  all  of  the  most  simple  character,  prayer  and  thanks- 
giving to  God  being  alone  dwelt  upon ;  to  these  several 
references  occur,  and  even  details  as  to  the  nature  of  such 
prayers  and  thanksgiving  are  given — prayers  for  the  enemies 
of  Christians  being  expressly  mentioned.  In  close  connec- 
tion with  these  general  notices  on  prayer  stands  a  reference 
to  fasting,  which  is  alluded  to  in  the  "  Apology  "  as  a  practice 

*  Texts  and  Studies  :  The  Apology  of  Aristides  (S.  Reader  Harris),  pp. 
13,  19,  24,  25. 

t  The  words  of  Aristides  here  on  this  article  of  his  creed  are  :  "  The  Christians 
then  reckon  the  beginning  of  their  religion  from  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  named  the 
Son  of  God  Most  High,  and  it  is  said  that  God  came  down  from  heaven,  and  from 
a  Hebrew  virgin  took  and  clad  Himself  with  flesh,  and  in  a  daughter  of  man 
there  dwelt  the  Son  of  God.  This  is  taught  from  that  Gospel  which  a  little  while 
ago  was  spoken  among  them  as  being  preached,  wherein  if  ye  also  will  read,  ye  will 
comprehend  the  power  that  is  upon  it."  (Translated  fi'om  the  Syriac  version  of 
the  "Apology.") 


TRAJAN  AND    HADRIAN.  131 

observed  by  tlie  communities  for  whom  the  writer  was  plead- 
ing. Such  fasting  is  not  mentioned  as  "  ordered,"  or  as  part 
of  the  "  rule  "  of  Christian  life,  but  simply  as  a  bit  of  generous 
self-denial  on  the  part  of  poor  folk,  who  were  in  the  habit 
of  "  fasting "  for  two  or  three  days  so  as  by  this  means  to  be 
able  to  save  something  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  brethren 
poorer  than  themselves. 

Similar  directions  on  "  fasting "  are  given  in  the  "  Simili- 
tudes" of  Hermas,  written  only  a  few  years  later  in  this 
century,  where  directions  are  given  that  on  the  day  of  a 
fast  only  bread  and  water  (the  bare  necessaries  of  life)  are 
to  be  eaten,  and  the  amount  thereby  saved  is  to  be  given 
to  the  needy. 

One  curious  mark  of  the  very  early  date  of  this  writing 
of  Aristides  has  been  pointed  out  in  the  comparatively 
friendly  spirit  with  which  the  Jews  are  alluded  to.  They 
are  spoken  of  (in  Section  xiv.)  as  being  "  much  nearer  the 
truth  than  all  the  peoples,  in  that  they  worship  God  more 
exceedingly,  and  not  His  works " ;  in  their  compassionate 
love  for  others,  etc.  Very  different,  indeed,  was  the  feeling 
of  Christians  towards  Jews  a  few  years  later,  as  we  see  for 
instance  in  the  allusions  to  them  in  the  account  of  the 
martyrdom  of  Polycarp,  circa  a.d.  157,  where  the  tone 
adopted  towards  the  Jews  has  become  decidedly  hostile.  The 
Church  and  the  Synagogue  evidently  had  not  finally  parted 
company  when  the  "  Apology  of  Aristides "  was  put  out. 

We  possess  another  writing  which  also  may  be  classed 
among  what  are  termed  "  Apologetics,"  the  well  known  and 
beautiful  "  Letter  to  Diognetus."  The  author  is  unknown. 
It  is  evidently  somewhat  later  than  the  "Apology  of  Aristides  " ; 
some  critics,  indeed,  have  suggested  that  it  was  a  treatise 
supplementary  to  it.  It  is  best  placed  between  that  writing 
and  the  first  "  Apology "  of  Justin  Martyr,  its  concluding 
fragment  being  later  than  the  earlier  part.  This  would  date 
it  roughly  some  time  before  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 

The  "  Letter  to  Diognetus "  also  gives  us  a  few  most 
interesting  and  graphic  pictures  of  the  life  led  by  these 
Christians  of    the    second  centurv.     The   writer   tells   us   how 


132  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND   PAGANISM. 

they  conformed  to  the  customs  of  the  country  in  which  they 
lived  in  matters  of  clothing,  and  of  eating  and  drinking,  and 
while  in  possession,  many  of  them,  of  the  rights  of  citizens, 
were  yet  universally  treated  as  strangers.  They  avoided  all 
excesses,  they  lived  on  earth  while  their  hearts  were  all  the 
time  in  heaven.  They  submitted  to  human  laws  and  ordin- 
ances, observing  them  with  the  greatest  care ;  loving  all  men, 
though  persecuted  by  all,  and  condemned  by  those  who  knew 
nothing  about  them  and  their  lives ;  they  were  evil-spoken 
of,  put  to  death — but  death  meant  to  them  eternal  life ;  the}^ 
were  hated  by  the  Jews,  persecuted  by  the  Greeks,  and  yet 
in  spite  of  all  they  kept  advancing  and  multiplying  day  by 
day.  The  common  mode  of  punishment  to  which  they  were 
subjected,  says  the  writer  of  the  letter,  was  exposure  to  wild 
beasts  or  condemnation  to  the  flames.  The  epistle  to 
Diognetus  was  evidently  the  work  of  a  scholar. 


SECTION  V. — THE  PERSECUTION  IN  THE   LAST  YEARS   OF  HADRIAN. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  change  in  the  feelings  of 
Hadrian  towards  the  Christians  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
reign.  This  change  was  probably  occasioned  by  his  bitter 
resentment  at  the  great  Jewish  rebellion.  It  was  long  before 
the  Roman  was  able  to  distinguish  accurately  between  the 
Jew  and  the  Christian.  The  irreconcilable  hatred  of  the 
Jews  for  the  Christians  eventually  no  doubt  effected  this.  In 
Jerusalem,  Hadrian's  dislike  of  the  Christians  was  especially 
marked  by  his  desecration  of  all  those  places  venerated  by  all 
Christians  alike.  He  filled  ujj  the  depression  in  the  little 
valley  which  separates  Golgotha  from  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
thus  destroying  the  ancient  landmarks  and  altering  beyond 
recognition  the  old  aspect  of  the  venerated  spot.  The  cave 
of  the  Nativity  was  transformed  into  a  grotto  sacred  to 
Adonis,  while  a  consecrated  wood  and  a  temple  of  Adonis 
covered  the  holy  site  of  Bethlehem,  On  a  portion  of  the 
vast  enclosure  of  the  Holy  House  of  Zion,  once  "  the  joy 
of    the    whole    earth,"    arose    a    lordly   temple    dedicated    to 


TBAJAN  AND    HADRIAN.  133 

Jupiter  of  tlie  Capitol.  The  Roman  Emperor,  in  these  sad 
latter  years  of  his  brilliant  life,  seems  to  have  taken  a  special 
interest  in  dishonouring  and  destroying  the  most  sacred  and 
revered  sanctuaries  of  that  devoted  and  quiet  sect  to  whose 
earnest  pleadings  in  his  earher  and  noble  years  he  had  listened 
Avith  seeming  interest,  and  whose  votaries  he  had  even  pro- 
tected under  the  mantle  of  his  Imperial  power. 

Finally  at  Rome,  and  under  the  very  shadow  of  that 
enormous  and  fantastic  palace-villa"^  at  Tibur,  then  almost 
a  suburb  of  the  Imperial  city — to  the  erection  of  which 
Hadrian  the  Emperor,  sick  alike  in  mind  as  in  body,  devoted 
the  boundless  resources  of  the  Empire — began  that  bitter, 
cruel  persecution  of  the  Christians  which  darkened  his  closing 
days. 

Tradition,  not  very  copious  as  far  as  regards  these  earlier 
years  of  the  second  century,  has  preserved  for  us  a  fairly 
long  Hst  of  Confessors  of  the  Faith  who  suffered  martyrdom 
under  Hadrian.  The  great  majority  of  these  of  course  belong 
to  the  period  covered  by  his  closing  years.  The  most  dis- 
tinguished of  them  was  S.  Telesphorus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  whose 
"glorious"  martyrdom  was  mentioned  especially  by  Irenasus 
{Adv.  Haer.,  iii.  3). 

But  the  story  of  another  episode  of  Christian  suffering 
for  the  "  Name,"  which  must  be  dated  circa  a.d.  136~7, 
certainly  not  long  before  Hadrian's  death,  has  obtained  a 
far  wider  notoriety  than  that  of  the  martyr  Bishop  of  Rome. 

The  "  Acts "  of  S.  Symphorosa  f  in  this  once  widely 
read  and  comparatively  popular  class  of  literature  were  well 
known     and     highly     esteemed.       Modern     criticism    dealing 

*  "  L'immense  et  ridicule  villa  qui  semble  le  reve  d'un  petit  bourgeois  realise 
avec  les  ressources  d'un  tout  puissant  Empereur  .  .  .  ce  colossal  assemblage  de 
batiments  de  tous  les  pays  et  de  tous  les  styles — avec  son  Lycee,  son  Academie,  son 
Prytanee,  sa  vallee  de  Tempe,  son  Portique  du  Poecilo,  son  Canal  de  Canope, 
son  Theatre  grec,  son  Theatre  latin,  jusqu'a  son  Elysee  et  son  Enfer — dont  la 
masse  capricieuse  couvrait  une  surface  de  sept  milles  remains." — Allard  :  Mist, 
(les  Fersecutions,  i.,  v.  4. 

•j-  Ruinart,  Acta  Siiicera,  thus  speaks  of  the  "  Acts  of  S.  Symphorosa  "  :  "  De 
eorum  sinceritate  nullus  videtur  dubitandi  locus."  He  gives  the  yet  earlier  date 
of  A.D.  120  for  the  martjTdom;  the  later  date,  however,  given  above  is  no  doubt 
the  accurate  one. 


134  EARLY    GHEISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

especially  with  internal  evidence  has  branded  the  recital 
with  grave  doubts  respecting  its  genuineness;  but  the 
more  conservative  spirit  which  has  lately  prevailed,  by 
subjecting  the  "  Acts "  to  a  searching  critical  examination, 
has  largely  disposed  of  these  objections,  and  has  shoAvn 
effectually  that  none  of  the  circumstances  connected  with 
the  charge  made  against  S.  Symphorosa  and  her  seven 
sons,  or  with  the  trials  that  ensued,  or  with  the  martyrdoms 
which  closed  this  stern,  sad  episode,  are  any  of  them 
improbable,  or  in  any  way  liable  to  the  imputation  of  being 
unhistorical ;  while  the  discoveries  resulting  from  recent 
researches  conducted  by  scientific  antiquarians  have  gone 
very  far  to  establish  the  substantial  truth  of  the  "Acts" 
in  question.  The  story  is  as  follows,  and  supplies  a  good 
illustration  of  the  maimer  in  which  the  Imperial  rescripts 
were  put  in  action,  with  fatal  results  in  the  case  of  the 
accused  Christians. 

The  jealous  and  hostile  priests  and  officials  of  the  Tibur 
temples  appear  to  have  brought  before  the  sick  and  super- 
stitious Emperor  an  oracular  message  complaining  of  the 
vexation  caused  to  the  Roman  gods  by  the  daily  prayers  of 
Symphorosa  and  her  sons  to  the  God  of  the  Christians. 
Symphorosa  belonged  to  a  respected  Roman  family  which 
had  already  made  itself  notorious  by  its  devoted  attachment  to 
the  proscribed  religion,  and  had  in  past  years,  in  the  persons  of 
two  distinguished  officers  of  the  Roman  army,  contributed 
its  quota  to  the  increasing  ranks  of  the  martyr  army. 

Hadrian  himself  conducted  the  judicial  inquiry,  and 
commanded  Symphorosa,  the  Avidow  of  one  of  the  soldier- 
martyrs  in  question,  to  sacrifice  to  the  all-powerful  national 
gods  on  pain  of  being  sacrificed  herself,  with  her  sons.  The 
"  Acts "  relate  that,  undismayed  by  threats,  and  proof  even 
against  torture,  the  Roman  lady  remained  steadfast,  and 
was  eventually  thrown  into  the  river  Anio  with  a  stone 
fastened  round  her  neck.  On  the  following  day  her  seven 
sons  were  severally  interrogated,  and  on  their  persistent  refusal 
to  sacrifice  to  the  heathen  deities,  were  put  to  death  in 
various  ways,   and  were   interred  together  in  a  deep  dug  pit. 


TRAJAN  AND    HADRIAN.  135 

These  seven  martyrs  have  always  been  known  as  the  "  septem 
biothanati." 

The  redactor  or  reviser  of  the  present  version  of  these 
"  Acts  of  Martyrdom "  which  we  now  possess,  has  apparently 
added  little,  if  anything,  to  the  original  recital  No  eloquent 
or  elaborate  discourse  by  way  of  defence  is  put  into  the  mouths 
of  the  victims,  no  circumstances  of  miraculous  approval  or 
interposition  are  superadded  to  the  simple  true  story.  Very 
little  indeed  of  the  marvellous  appears.  We  are  accurately  told 
in  the  "  Acts "  that  the  place  where  the  bodies  of  the  seven 
brothers  were  laid  was  henceforth  called  "  Ad  Septem  Biothan- 
atos"  (the  place  of  the  seven  who  perished  by  a  violent  death). 
As  time  went  on,  the  original  Greek  name  by  which  the  spot 
was  known  in  the  days  of  Hadrian,  when  Greek  was  the 
"  fashionable  "  language  of  the  Empire,  became  the  abbreviated 
Latin  appellation,  "Ad  Septerti  Fratres"  and  by  this  name  the 
spot  was  even  called  all  through  the  Middle  Ages. 

And  in  our  own  day  and  time  the  spot  has  been  identified 
with  striking  proof.  Some  nine  miles  from  Rome,  on  the 
Via  Tiburtina,  the  remains  *  of  a  basilica  built  on  to  a  much 
smaller  pile  have  been  unearthed,  a  kind  of  chapel  with  three 
apses,  a  very  ancient  form.  The  deep  grave  alluded  to  in  the 
"  Acts  "  could  clearly  be  traced.  The  little  triple  apsidal  chapel, 
or  more  probably  the  yet  earlier  and  humbler  building  alluded 
to  in  the  "  Acts,"  was  raised,  as  was  the  custom,  over  the 
martyrs'  grave.  Then,  as  time  went  on,  probably  early  in  the 
fourth  century,  the  Uttle  "  memoria "  or  chapel  became  too 
small  for  the  ever  increasing  number  of  visitors  and  pilgrims 
to  the  sacred  resting-place  of  the  children  of  SjTnphorosa ;  and 
the  large  basilica  was  built,  as  was  so  often  the  custom,  adjoining 
the  primitive  "  memoria."  f     The  crowd  of  pilgrim  worshippers 

*  Already  in  the  seventeenth  century,  Bosio,  that  great  pioneer  of  catacomb 
explorations,  had  noticed  the  remains  of  a  ruined  church  on  the  spot  which  the 
people  of  the  district  still  called  "«  sette  fratte."  Cf.  Bosio,  Soma  tSotterajiea, 
pp. 105-109. 

f  This  was  the  almost  invariable  ancient  Christian  custom.  The  original 
tomb  of  the  saint  or  martyr  was  ever  left  undisturbed,  and  the  little  "  memoria  " 
or  chapel  originally  built  over  the  tomb  remained  untouched,  while  to  accommodate 
the  increasing  number  of  pilgrims  who  visited  the  sacred  spot,  adjoining  the  chapel 
a  larger  chapel  or  church  was  built. 


136  IE  ABLY   CHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

assembled  in  the  larger  basilica  could  thus  see  and  venerate 
the  tomb  in  the  little  building  joined  on  to  it. 

The  memory  of  this  early  martyrdom  has  thus  been  kept 
alive  for  more  than  seventeen  and  a  half  centuries,  and  these 
late  discoveries  have  set  their  seal  upon  the  substantial  truth 
of  the  story  contained  in  the  "  Acts."  "  He  would  be  a  rash 
man,"  says  a  modern  scholar  of  high  reputation,  "who  would 
venture  to  tear  now  from  the  history  of  Hadrian's  reign  the 
blood-stained  page  on  which  this  sad  record  of  early  Christian 
life  is  told." 


137 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   REVIVAL   OF   PAGANISM. 
SECTIOX   I, — THE  ROMAN   RELIGION. 

A  VERY  important  question  arises  in  the  story  of  the  early 
struggles  between  Christianity  and  Paganism  which  presses 
for  an  answer.  The  religion  of  Jesus  very  soon,  we  have 
seen,  made  a  firm  lodgment  outside  the  numerous  class  of 
freedmen,  petty  traders,  and  slaves.  In  the  first  century 
we  find  already  persons  connected  with  the  Imperial  court 
converts  to  Christianity,  which  had  even  made  its  way 
among  members  of  the  Imperial  family.  Early  in  the  second 
century  men  of  high  culture,  such  as  Aristides,  and  later  in 
the  same  century  Justin,  Minucius  Felix,  Melito  of  Sardis, 
and  many  others  wrote  elaborate  treatises  in  defence  of  the 
new  faith.  In  Rome,  in  Ephesus,  in  Smyrna,  in  Athens,  and 
in  countless  other  important  centres,  the  Christians  evidently 
formed  at  an  early  date  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the 
population.  At  the  end  of  the  second  century  the  Christian 
people  were  so  numerous  that  Tertullian  of  Carthage  "wrote, 
somewhat  rhetorically  perhaps,  as  follows :  "  If  we  Christians 
were  to  separate  ourselves  from  you,  you  would  be  affrighted 
at  your  solitude,  you  would  be  alarmed  at  the  silence  which 
would,  in  a  way,  resemble  the  paralysis  of  a  dead  world." 
How,  then,  came  it  to  pass  that  Paganism,  as  it  is  commonly 
understood,  was  enabled  to  hold  its  own  and  even  to  make 
head  against  the  steady  progress  of  such  a  religion  as 
Christianity* — Paganism  with   its   silly  and  monstrous  fables, 

*  It  seems  clear  that  Christianity,  at  Jirst,  was  generally  received,  in  those 
circles  where  its  preaching  and   teaching   penetrated,  with   considerable  favour. 
The  growth  of  the  hostile   feeling   among  the  people  was  somewhat  later,  and- 
was  due  to  various  social  causes,  injury  to  certain  trades,  domestic  separations, 
and  the  like  ;  these  adverse  feelings  being  fostered  by  interested  persons. 


13S  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

with  its  immoral  Deities ;  fables  which  the  learned  and 
cultured  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  first  century  utterly  dis- 
believed, Deities  that  at  the  same  period  were  openly 
derided  by  a  large  majority  of  all  classes  and  orders  of  the 
civilised  Roman  world  ? 

And  yet  it  did.  The  serious  opposition  of  Paganism  revived 
and  increased  steadily  as  the  years  of  the  Empire  rolled  on. 
Something  must  have  happened  to  account  for  the  striking 
change  in  the  position  which  Paganism  had  come  to  occupy 
in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  at  the  end  of  the  second 
century ;  a  change  which  took  place,  roughly,  between  the 
beginning  of  the  first  century  and  the  last  years  of  the 
second,  in  other  words,  in  the  period  which  lay  between  the 
accession  of  Augustus"^  and  the  death  of  Commodus,  the 
son  and  successor  of  the  good  and  great  Emperor  Marcus 
Aurelius  Antoninus. 

In  this  chapter  an  answer  to  the  question  will  be 
attempted,  and  the  reasons  for  the  changed  position  of 
Paganism  briefly  discussed. 

The  Pagan  religion  of  Rome,  reawakened  from  what 
seemed  the  torpor  of  a  rapidly  advancing  death,  was  inex- 
tricably mixed  up  with  the  Imperial  Government;  and  the 
highest  positions  in  religion  were  filled  by  the  occupants  of 
the  powerful  civil  posts.  The  strange  deification  of  the 
Emperors,  of  which  we  shall  speak  presently,  made  the  pro- 
fession of  Christianity,  which  abhorred  all  idol- worship,  treason 
against  the  State. 

The  reawakened  ancient  cultt  appealed  to  all  classes,  cul- 
tured and  ignorant  alike.  It  was  seriously  supported  by  the 
whole  weight  of  Imperial  authority,  and  by  the  powerful  aid 
of  men  of  letters,  including  historians,  poets,  and  philosophers. 

*  The  full  name  of  the  great  Emperor  after  his  adoption  in  44  b.c.  by  Julius 
Cresar  was  Caius  Julius  Caisar  Octavianus.  We  have  in  the  present  study  used 
the  title  Auffustus,  which  he  assimied  and  b\'  which  he  is  commonly  known,  when 
we  speak  of  him.     "  Augustus"  was  a  name  no  one  had  borne  before. 

+  Professor  Ramsay  suggests  that  Ghi-istianity  as  early  as  the  time  of  Hadrian 
was  a  factor  in  the  laboured  Eenaissance  of  Paganism.  "  Paganism  even  imder 
Hadrian  began  to  feel,  under  the  stimulus  of  the  opposition  of  Chi-istianity,  the 
pulse  of  returning  life." 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  PAGANISM.  139 

It  appealed,  with  its  revival  of  the  ancient  traditions  and 
ritual,  to  the  Roman  patriot  who  looked  back  with  regret 
to  the  far  period  when  men  lived  their  comparatively  simple, 
even  austere,  work-a-day  lives ;  the  men  who  were  the  real 
makers  of  Rome.  It  appealed  with  its  mysteries,  its  oracles, 
its  dreams,  to  the  superstitious — a  very  large  class  in  the 
Rome  of  the  Empire,  often  including  the  Emperor  himself. 
By  its  readiness  to  associate  with  the  gods  of  old  Rome 
other  and  strange  national  deities,  it  appealed  to  the  Asiatics, 
the  Africans,  and  the  provincials  of  Gaul  alike.  Rome  and 
Ephesus,  Carthage  and  Alexandria,  Edessa  in  the  far  East, 
Lyons  in  the  far  West,  were  all  equally  interested  in  the 
Pagan  system  of  religion  as  it  was  understood  and  practised 
at  the  end  of  the  second  century  after  Christ.  We  must 
therefore  bear  in  mind  that  when  Christianity,  in  the  middle 
of  the  second  century,  was  confronted  with  Paganism  in  the 
form  adopted  by  the  Roman  Empire  under  the  Antonines, 
it  was  confronted  with  an  adversary  by  no  means  discredited 
or  generally  disbelieved. 

In  the  period  of  the  Antonines,  Pius  and  Marcus,  a.d. 
138-80,  the  religion  of  Jesus  was  no  longer  confined  to  an 
obscure  and  comparatively  small  sect.  From  a.d.  64  onwards, 
it  had  been  neither  unknown  to  the  Government  nor  set 
aside  as  of  no  importance.  The  action  of  Nero  when  he 
fixed  upon  the  Christians  as  the  object  of  his  terrible  per- 
secution, the  behaviour  of  Vespasian,  the  correspondence  of 
Pliny  and  Trajan,  the  successive  rescripts  of  Trajan  and 
Hadrian  regulating  the  action  of  the  Governors  in  the  case 
of  accused  Christians,  the  persecution  in  the  later  days  of 
Hadrian,  all  serve  to  remind  us  that  the  Roman  Government 
between  a.d.  64  and  a.d.  161,  the  date  of  the  accession  ot 
the  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius,  was  well  aware  that  there 
existed  in  Rome  and  in  most  of  the  provinces  of  the  Empire 
a  strange  and  earnest  community  who  chose  to  live  outside 
the  pale  of  the  religion  of  Rome.  This  society,  owing  to  its 
peculiar  tenets,  which  in  a  way  separated  its  members  from 
the  ordinary  citizens  and  subjects  of  Rome,  was  evidently  a 
source  of  grave  anxiety  to    the   Emperor  and  his  lieutenants. 


140  EABLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

In  the  middle  of  the  second  century  the  Christians,  ever 
increasing  in  number,  became  so  numerous  and  conspicuous 
a  body  that  the  Government  was  forced  to  consider  them  a 
distinct  power  in  the  Empire,  absolutely  opposed  to  the 
State  religion,  which  was  closely  bound  up  with  well-nigh 
all  the  offices  and  official  dignities  of  the  Empire,  and  was 
apparently  firmly  believed  in  by  the  Emperor  and  more  or 
less  by  the  leading  men  of  Rome. 

This  Paganism — the  religion  of  Rome  as  professed  in  the 
days  of  Marcus  Aurelius — was  not  that  seemingly  childish 
and  discredited  cult  of  which  Cicero  speaks  in  the  last 
days  of  the  Republic.  A  great  change  had  passed  over 
Rome  in  the  period  which  had  elapsed  since  Cicero  wrote. 
We  will,  therefore,  briefly  review  Avhat  had  happened  during 
this  period,  roughly  comprehending  a  century  and  three-quarters, 
in  the  Pagan  religious  world. 

In  Cicero's  letters  there  is,  comparatively  speaking,  little 
mention  of  religion.  It  is  true  that  some  of  the  sacerdotal 
functions  were  still  attached  to,  and  were  performed  by 
holders  of,  certain  offices  of  the  State.  But  these  office-holders 
were  generally  sceptics,  and  absolutely  indifferent  to  the  ancient 
worship,  in  which  they  continued  to  perform  a  leading  official 
part.  Great  men  became  augurs  and  pontiffs  at  the  same 
time  that  they  were  praetors  or  consuls.  But  the  religious 
functions  which  they  had  to  discharge  were  to  them  of  com- 
paratively little  interest.  Cicero  in  his  writings  admirably 
represents  the  spirit  of  his  age  and  time.  In  some  of  his 
works — speaking  as  a  statesman — he  appears  as  though  he 
believed  in  the  reality  of  the  cult  in  which  he  shared.  In 
others,  as,  for  instance,  in  his  treatise  on  the  "  Nature  of  the 
Gods,"  he  speaks  with  undisguised  contempt  of  the  deities 
of  Rome.  But  in  his  letters,  of  which  we  have  so  ample  a 
collection,  we  see  Avhat  was  in  the  heart  of  the  great  orator 
and  statesman.  In  his  moments  of  sorrow  and  sadness, 
when  he  mourned  the  loss  of  a  dear  daughter,  or  grieved 
over  his  country's  fortunes,  never  a  whisper  of  eternal  life, 
never  a  word  of  trust  in  those  Beings  he  professed  to  believe 
in,  appears  to   lighten  the  sombre  narrative.     And  when  the 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  PAGANISM.  141 

end  was  in  sight,  all  he  could  say  was,  "  If  we  are  among 
the  happy  ones,  we  ought  to  despise  death ;  if  among  the 
sad  ones,  we  ought  to  look  forward  to  it."  The  blessed  hopes 
of  immortality  which  here  and  there  illumine  his  writings 
seem  to  have  brought  him  no  solid  comfort  in  his  dark 
hour.  His  expressions  of  respect  for  the  gods  of  Rome  were 
evidently  written  for  the  public  eye ;  they  could  scarcely 
have  been  the  outcome  of  his  own  convictions. 

And  Cicero's  contemporaries  were  like  him;  we  find 
among  the  best  and  noblest  the  same  contradictory  state- 
ments, outward  professions  of  belief^  inward  utter  indifference. 

When  we  take  up  the  letters  of  the  Emperor  Marcus 
to  his  friend  and  master,  Fronto,  the  thought  of  the  gods 
and  the  hope  of  the  gods  meet  us  in  every  page.  The 
Sovereign  and  his  friend  can  hardly  suggest  a  project  without 
adding :  "  If  the  gods  please."  When  Fronto,  for  instance, 
hears  that  Verus,  the  Emperor's  adopted  brother,  has 
recovered  from  a  serious  siclcness,  he  writes  the  following, 
evidently  speaking  from  his  heart :  "  At  the  good  news  I 
went  at  once  to  the  chapel  and  knelt  at  every  altar.  .  .  I 
was  in  the  country  at  the  time,  and  I  used  to  go  and  pray 
at  the  foot  of  every  tree  sacred  to  the  gods." 

Sentences  like  these  occur  and  recur  in  his  writings  :  "  Every 
morning  I  pray  for  Faustina."  Anxiety  for  the  wife  of  Marcus, 
the  result  of  the  sickness  of  the  dear  one,  wells  up  in  such 
words  as  "  We  must  trust  her  with  the  gods." 

In  the  time  of  Cicero,  the  philosopher  was  well-nigh 
always  a  sceptic.  In  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  the 
philosopher  or  man  of  culture  as  a  rule  was  apparently  a 
firm  believer  in  the  gods  of  Rome  ;  not  a  few  of  them  were 
superstitious  in  their  beliefs.  For  instance,  we  find  the 
philosopher  Emperor  Marcus  in  his  "  Meditations "  gratefully 
thanking  the  gods  for  having  suggested  in  dreams  remedies 
for  his  malady. 

What  now  had  brought  about  this  changed  state  of 
things  ?  What  had  happened,  since  the  day  when  Julius 
Ctesar  had  assumed  sovereign  power  in  the  old  Republic, 
so    completely    to    change    the    state    of   religious    belief   in 


142  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

Rome  ?  For  contemptuous  unbelief  had  evidently  given 
place  to  a  real,  even  a  superstitious  devotion  in  the  case  of 
many,  to  the  gods  of  the  old  worship. 

To  answer  this  question  we  must  rapidly  glance  over  the 
past  story  of  the  old  belief.  Religion  during  the  earlier 
times  of  the  Kings  and  of  the  Republic  had  had  great 
weight  among  men,  and  really  influenced  the  customs  of 
Italy  and  Rome.  It  was  a  creed  which  adored  all  forces  of 
Nature ;  fear  of  these  deities  rather  than  love  characterised 
the  old  Italian  devotion.  Tullus  Hostilius,  for  instance, 
erected  a  temple  dedicated  to  "  Fear."  The  Roman  peasant, 
deeply  superstitious,  as  he  came  to  his  little  hut  after  his 
day's  toil,  dreaded  lest  he  should  meet  some  faun  or  other 
supernatural  being  in  the  gloaming.  It  was  a  simple  ritual 
which  was  practised  in  early  times,  and  the  gods  were  long 
represented  by  symbols  rather  than  by  images ;  Varro  speaks 
regretfuUy  of  the  days  when  there  Avere  no  temples  and  no 
images  in  Rome,  when  the  gods  were  adored  under  symbols, 
such  as  a  lance  planted  firmly  in  the  earth  or  a  stone 
anointed  with  oil,  or  a  noble  tree  in  the  forest.  But  this 
primitive  devotion  was  something  real,  and  it  powerfully 
influenced  the  people.  Very  early  were  religious  functions 
associated  with  the  State  oflicial  positions,  and,  as  we  have 
mentioned,  when  a  Roman  became  prsetor  or  consul  at  the 
same  time  he  became  augur  or  pontiff.  This  union  of  sacred 
and  political  offices  always  continued  a  characteristic  feature 
of  Roman  government  under  the  Empire. 

For  a  long  time  these  high  dignities  were  the  especial 
prerogative  of  the  ruling  patrician  class.  In  them  the  plebeian 
had  no  share. 

The  time  came  when  a  change  passed  over  the  old  simple 
religion  of  Rome.  It  may  be  dated  from  the  period  of  the 
conquest  of  Greece,  and  Greece  soon  avenged  herself  on  her 
conquerors  by  largely  superseding  the  ancient  Roman  ways 
with  Greek  culture,  habits,  thought,  literature.  Greek  thinkers 
seem,  however,  to  have  been  much  struck  and  impressed 
with  the  spirit  of  order,  purity,  and  morality  in  Roman 
private  life ;   of  obedience,  discipline,  and  patriotism  in  Roman 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  PAGANISM.  143 

public  life.  The  Romans  attributed  the  spirit  which  the 
Greeks  wondered  at  and  admired,  in  great  part  to  their 
religion,  to  their  fear  of  the  gods.  Great  Roman  writers  and 
thinkers  like  Cicero,  even  after  the  old  behef  had  become 
worn  out,  repeat  this,  and  tell  us  that  the  Romans  surpassed 
other  people  in  their  devotion  to  the  gods,  that  Rome 
vanquished  the  world  owing  to  her  earnest  religious  belief, 
that  when  Greece  first  came  into  close  contact  with  Rome, 
Rome  was  the  most  religious  city  of  the  world,  and  that  to 
her  deep  and  simple  piety  she  owed  her  greatness  and  her 
conquests. 

It  was  largely  owing  to  the  revival  of  this  ancient  spirit 
of  devotion  and  piety,  a  revival  that  commenced  in  the  days 
of  Augustus,  reaching  perhaps  its  highest  development  in 
the  days  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  that  the  Paganism  of  the 
Empire  was  enabled  for  some  two  centuries  and  a  half  to 
carry  on  its  war  with  that  Christianity  to  which  in  the 
end  it  succumbed. 

Greece  in  due  course  avenged  herself  for  her  conquest  in 
various  ways ;  among  others,  she  corrupted  the  old  simplicity 
of  the  religion  of  the  conquering  people,  while  teaching  them 
her  own  fables,  some  beautiful,  some  monstrous  and  childish. 
There  were  verv  few  of  these  legends  or  fables  treatina:  of 
the  gods  current  in  Rome  before  Greek  culture  was  intro- 
duced; and  for  a  time  these  new  fables  struck  the  older, 
simpler  cult  a  fatal  blow. 

Other  causes,  too,  were  at  work  which  served  to  sap  and 
to  impair  the  power  of  the  ancient  Roman  belief  Strangely 
enough,  this  old  religion  had  been  sjjecially  the  religion  of 
the  privileged  class — the  patricians.  To  these  alone,  as  we 
have  said,  belonged  for  a  lengthened  period  the  exclusive 
right  of  filhng  the  various  offices  connected  with  the  priest- 
hood ;  and  in  very  early  days  the  plebeians  were  even  ex- 
cluded from  sharing  at  all  in  the  public  religious  rites. 
Gradually  the  influence  and  power  of  the  plebeians  of  Rome 
increased,  religious  equality  quickly  followed  civil  equality,  and 
when  the  priestly  offices  were  no  longer  confined  to  the 
best  and  noblest  in  Rome,  a  marked   deterioration   was   soon 


144  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

visible  among  the  pontiffs  and  augurs.  The  old  ceremonies 
were  altered,  even  neglected.  As  time  went  on,  the  Greek 
influence  above  referred  to  became  more  and  more  marked. 
The  Greek  drama,  when  introduced  among  the  Romans, 
contributed  largely  to  weaken  the  power  of  the  old  religion 
among  all  classes  and  orders  of  the  people.  We  find  Plautus, 
perhaps  the  oldest  of  the  Roman-Greek  school  of  playwrights, 
openly  parodying  the  most  venerable  formularies  of  the 
ancient  faith.  Ennius  still  more  openly  mocked  at  the  gods 
and  their  votaries.  To  Ennius  Rome  owes  a  popular  transla- 
tion of  the  sacred  history  of  Euhemerus,  the  object  of  whose 
work  was  to  demonstrate  that  all  the  gods  in  the  first  instance 
had  been  heroic  men,  kings  or  warriors,  who  had  been  exalted 
after  their  death  by  their  grateful  and  admiring  contem- 
poraries and  descendants  into  the  position  of  deities. 

All  these  and  other  more  subtle  causes  had  well-nigh 
destroyed  the  old  reverence  for  and  belief  in  the  objects  of 
the  primitive  Roman  worship,  and  so  it  came  to  pass  that, 
in  the  last  days  of  the  Republic,  Cicero,  who  so  well  voices 
the  opinions  of  his  day  and  time,  often  writes  almost  as  a 
sceptic  in  all  matters  of  religion.  The  cold  respect  and 
formal  reverence  which  such  men  as  he  still  inculcated  for 
the  ancient  beliefs  and  rites,  belonged  rather  to  State  policy, 
to  what  they  believed  was  necessary  to  the  well-being  of  the 
Republic,  than,  as  we  have  pointed  out  above,  to  any  deep 
feeling  of  real  conviction. 

When  the  Republic  gave  place  to  the  Empire,  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  in  Rome  religion  was  fast  dying  out.  Many 
of  the  temples  of  the  most  august  among  the  gods  were  even 
falling  into  ruin.  The  sacred  possessions  attached  to  them 
were  being  rapidly  alienated.  The  hallowed  woods  and  groves 
were  often  confiscated  by  individuals  for  private  purposes ;  not 
a  few  of  the  ancient  festivals  were  neglected ;  the  chief  sacer- 
dotal dignities  were  frequently  unclaimed;  and  Varro  did 
not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  the  religion  of  Rome  was  even 
perishing,  not  owing  to  the  attacks  of  its  foes,  but  because  of 
the  neoflect  of  its  votaries. 


TEE    REVIVAL     OF    PAGANISM.  145 


SECTION     II. — THE    AUGUSTAN     AWAKENING. 

The  Sfrave  dansrer  to  the  -svell-beinQf  of  Rome  which  would 
surely  result  from  the  absence  of  all  religious  belief  among  the 
people,  was  perceived  by  several  of  the  leading  men  in  the 
period  of  transition  which  immediately  followed  the  downfall 
of  the  Republic ;  but  it  was  the  genius  of  Octavianus  Cassar 
(Augustus)  which  recognised  the  imperative  necessity  of  religion 
as  the  foundation  store}'  of  any  permanent  Government.  The 
very  name  b}^  which  this  greatest  of  the  Emperors  is  known 
in  history,  and  which  he  transmitted  to  a  long  line  of  Imperial 
successors  as  their  proudest  title — "AugTistus" — was  a  term 
borrowed  from  the  ancient  Roman  ritual  language,  where  it 
is  used  as  the  designation  of  a  temple  consecrated  with 
solemn  rites.  In  assuming  this  semi-sacred  title,  he,  as  it 
were,  anticipated  the  apotheosis  which  awaited  him  after 
death — and  claimed,  too,  that  while  on  earth  the  supreme 
master  of  the  Roman  world  was  the  representative  of  the 
immortal  gods.  In  the  course  of  his  reign  the  occupant  of 
the  office  of  Pontifex  Maximus  died.  Augustus  at  once  took 
upon  himself  the  office,  which  carried  with  it  the  headship  of 
religion  in  Rome.  It  wavS  said  \dth  justice  that  the  house 
where  this  great  restorer  of  the  ancient  cult  dwelt  on  the 
Palatine  during  his  long,  momentous  reign,  in  some  resj)ects 
resembled  a  temple  in  its  form  and  special  adornment.  It  is 
no  mere  quaint  fancy  which  traces  to  the  work  and  claim  of 
Augustus  the  semi-divine  halo  which  has  ever  crowned  the 
sacred  heads  of  a  long  line  of  Christian  Emperors  and  Kings, 
who  more  or  less,  in  different  lands,  have  succeeded  to  his 
power  and  position.  The}',  like  him,  though  many  with  a 
different  and  better  title,  claim  to  reign  in  some  measure  as 
the  vice-gerent  of  God  on  earth. 

But  it  was  not  merely  by  the  assumption  of  titles  and 
dignities  or  by  the  peculiar  adornments  of  his  palace  that 
Augustus  played  the  part  of  a  religious  restorer  and  reformer. 
He  found,  when  he  became  Emperor,  most  of  the  ancient 
temples  falling  into  ruin  and  decay.  In  the  restoration  of 
K 


146  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  old  shrines  and  in  the  erection  and  sumptuous  adornment 
of  new  temples  he  spent  vast  sums,  and  persuaded  the 
representatives  of  the  great  houses  to  follow  his  example  in 
this  generosity.  And  thus,  as  the  years  of  his  prosperous 
reign  rolled  on,  the  old  worship  was  gradually  restored  to  far 
more  than  its  ancient  splendour.  He  neglected  nothing  which 
might  throw  lustre  upon  the  restored  religious  rites.  On  the 
priests  and  vestals  he  conferred  many  privileges  and  an  exalted 
rank,  requiring  from  senators  and  other  distinguished  persons 
the  same  minute  attention  to  all  points  of  ritual  observance 
which  he  was  ever  careful  to  show  himself.  It  is  indisputable 
that  the  work  of  Augustus  in  a  marvellous  way  infused  new 
life  into  a  religion  Avhich  in  the  last  period  of  the  Republic 
seemed  to  be  a  dying  and  worn-out  cult ;  nor  did  he,  in  his 
care  for  the  shattered  fanes  and  broken  altars  and  neglected 
rites  of  the  discredited  gods  of  Rome,  forget  to  legislate  for 
the  improvement  of  the  moral  life  of  his  city  and  Empire. 
Augustus,  as  we  have  said,  felt  that  the  basis  of  all  stable 
government  must  be  laid  upon  the  sound  foundation  of 
religion,  and  upon  laws  which  aim  at  morality  and  purity. 
The  great  Emperor  was  emphatically  a  great  legislator  as  well 
as  a  restorer  of  the  ancient  reiisfion. 

A  singularly  brilliant  group  of  writers  adorned  the  court 
of  Augustus,  The  historian,  the  poet,  and  the  philosopher, 
each  was  represented ;  and  the  works  produced  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Emperor  are  among  the  most  famous  of  the 
writings  of  antiquity.  Livy,  Propertius,  Horace,  Ovid,  Yirgil, 
to  take  the  most  conspicuous  examples,  are  names  Avhich 
apparently  will  never  die  while  the  world  endures. 

Historians  and  poets  all  struck  more  or  less  the  same 
note,  the  note  their  Imperial  master  loved :  the  glorification 
of  the  old  simple  Roman  life,  and  the  old  simple  Roman 
faith  in  the  gods.  It  was  to  these  that  the  present  surpass- 
ing grandeur  of  Rome  was  owing.  The  burden  of  the  song 
of  the  brilhant  writers  of  the  court  of  Augustus  Avas  "  O  that 
the  present  generation  of  Romans  who  have  entered  into  the 
fruit  of  their  ancestors'  toils,  would  foUow  them  in  their  life, 
ixnd  imitate  them  in  their  worship  I  " 


^mirnM 


AUGUSTUS. 
Ouce  owned  liy  Edmund  Bnikp.  now  in  tlie  British  Museum, 


THE    REVIVAL    OF    PAGANISM.  147 

In  the  case  of  two  of  these,  not,  perhaps,  the  very  greatest 
of  that  illustrious  group,  Ovid  and  Horace,  we  have  some  doubt 
as  to  their  sincerity  in  really  desiring  the  reforms  which 
they  advocated ;  undoubtedly  their  writings  are  more  severe 
than  were  their  lives,  and  even  in  these  writings  a  terrible 
picture  of  the  society  in  which  they  lived,  and  in  the  ex- 
travagance of  which  they  shared  and  evidently  delighted,  is 
painted  by  them.  The  one — Ovid — gives  us  sketches  of  the 
life  of  the  immortals;  but  his  evil  pictures  of  the  life  led 
by  the  dwellers  on  Olympus  are  evidently  based  on  his  too 
faithful  memories  of  the  life  led  by  his  contemporaries  and 
associates  at  Rome.  The  other — Horace— without  the  thin 
veil  with  v/hich  Ovid  has  covered  his  sketches,  openly  draws 
pictures  of  Roman  life,  Roman  aims  and  hopes;  and  they 
Are  too  often  degrading,  at  times  aimless,  even  hopeless. 
Their  advice,  it  must  be  confessed,  has  over  an  insincere 
ring,  and  their  Avords  were  evidently  not  sufficient  seriously 
to  influence  society  for  good.  Indeed,  had  we  only  the 
writings  of  the  popular  poets,  Ovid  and  Horace,  we  should 
scarcely  hesitate  in  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
attempts  of  Augustus  at  reformation  in  morals,  and  his 
efforts  to  restore  the  ancient  worship,  were  barren  of  definite 
results. 

But  there  was  a  yet  greater  writer  standing  at  Augustus' 
right  hand,  who  leaves  a  very  different  impression  on  the 
student.  No  one,  statesman  or  poet,  helped  the  noble  project 
of  Augustus  like  Virgil;  if  others,  more  or  less  courtier-like, 
took  their  cue  from  that  all-powerful  Emperor,  and  coloured 
their  works  with  aims  and  aspirations  borrowed  from  him, 
Virgil  was  at  least  in  earnest.  With  his  whole  heart  and 
soul  he  longed  to  see  the  people  return  to  the  old  religion  ; 
he  believed  with  an  intense  belief  that  the  grandeur  of  his 
country  was  based  upon  the  simple,  pure  life  led  by  the 
early  makers  of  the  Roman  power. 

In  the  "  Georgics  " — the  great  epic  of  rural  life — we  meet 
with  expressions  which  evidently  came  from  the  heart  of  the 
great  poet.  He  paints  as  none  before  him  had  painted, 
perhaps  none  will  ever  paint  again,. how  the  strength  of  a  land 


148  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   A2sW    PAGANISM. 

lay  in  its  peasants,  how  the  old  rural  life  of  Italy  produced 
that  race  of  hardy  soldiers  which  had  made  Rome  the 
mistress  of  the  world.  The  country  life  had  ever  strengthened 
the  real  religious  feeling  which  was  the  true  foundation  of 
Roman  greatness.  It  was  no  soft,  dreamy  existence  in  which 
the  Roman  conquerors  were  nurtured,  but  a  hard,  laborious 
life,  and  in  this  the  gods  had  ordered  that  men  should  live. 
But  the  stern  life  of  rural  toil  was  sweetened  and  ennobled 
]by  prayer.  "  Work  and  pray  "  was  the  conclusion  of  the  great 
poem ;  "  above  all  things  worship  the  gods "  was  the  solemn 
charge  of  the  "  Georgics,"  "  in  primis  venerare  Deos."  It  was  a 
sad  day  for  Rome  when  the  city  life  with  the  artificial  plea- 
sures of  the  theatre  and  circus  was  substituted  for  the  pure, 
healthy  joys  of  the  woods  and  the  fields.  The  city  life  pro- 
duced an  enfeebled  and  debauched  race  of  lazy,  useless  men,, 
who  believed  in  nothing.  The  old  rural  life,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  the  mother  of  a  hardy  race  of  men  who  were 
ready  to  fight  and  die  for  their  country,  who  feared  the- 
gods  and  believed  in  the  rewards  and  punishments  of  the 
immortals.     These  men  were  the  makers  of  Rome. 

But  it  was  in  the  "  .Eneid "  that  Yirgil  especially  helped 
Augustus  in  his  ef!brt  to  bring  men  back  to  the  old  faith.  The 
famous  epic  is  before  all  things  a  religious  poem.  The  "^Eneid" 
v/as  for  the  Italians  of  the  first  3- ears  of  the  Empire  what  the 
religious  epic  of  Dante  was  for  the  men  who  lived  thirteen 
or  fourteen  hundred  years  later. 

Even  more  than  the  "  Georgics "  the  "  ^Eneid "  led  men. 
to  love  and  to  reverence  the  old  simple  manners  and 
customs,  with  their  all-pervading  religious  colouring,  which 
Augustus  so  longed  to  reintroduce  into  the  artificial  and 
evil  society  of  his  time.  Never  Avas  a  more  enchant- 
ing picture  drawn  than  Virgil's  sketch  of  the  old  King 
Evander,  living  his  homely  life,  with  his  brave,  simple,  manly 
ideas. 

We  must  not  linger  unduly  over  the  great  poem  which 
so  powerfully  aided  the  Emperor  in  his  plans  to  make  his. 
Empire  better,  purer,  more  religious ;  one  page,  however,, 
must  be  given  to  the  special  religious  colouring  of  the  great 


THE    REVIVAL     OF    PAGANISM.  149 

patriotic  epic.  While  the  Roman  poet  largely  bases  his 
theology  upon  the  scenery  and  legendary  notices  of  the 
Homeric  poem,  the  gods  of  Homer  are  presented  in  the 
Roman  poem  under  very  different  aspects.  Virgil  gives  us 
a  somewhat  more  reverent  idea  of  the  divinities  whose 
worship  he  Avould  fain  restore.  They  interfere  less  openly 
in  human  affairs,  they  dwell  in  a  more  mysterious  atmosphere. 
They  pity  rather  than  share  in  mortal  passions.  The  Roman 
poet  shrank  from  attributing  to  the  gods  anger,  passion, 
jealousy,  and  the  like.  The  childish  and  frivolous,  coarse  and 
fleshly,  legends  which  Ovid,  for  instance,  delights  in  re-telhng 
in  his  own  winning  and  attractive  manner,  never  appear 
in  Virgil's  great  epic.  The  estimate  of  divinity  which  Virgil 
pressed  upon  his  readers  was  a  lofty  one.  The  gods  were 
the  supreme  refuge,  for  instance,  of  the  unhappy,  the  sad- 
hearted,  the  oppressed.  His  hero,  a  child  of  the  gods,  so 
resigned,  so  distrustful  of  himself,  so  ready  for  sacrifice  of  self, 
so  submissive  to  the  will  of  heaven,  is  almost  in  character  a 
Christian  hero.  Indeed,  in  all  the  Christian  ages,  Virgil  has 
been  admired  by  not  a  few  saintly  followers  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
almost  as  a  pioneer  of  the  nobler  and  purer  faith.  Dante 
well  compares  him  to  one  walking  in  the  dark  night  and 
carrying,  but  holding  all  the  while  behind  him,  a  burning 
torch,  which  served  as  a  light,  not  for  himself  but  for  those 
who  followed  in  his  wake.* 


*  As  early  as  a.d.  32.5  Constantine  quoted  at  consideratle  length  Virgil's 
""Fourth  Eclogue"  as  a  very  early  testimony  to  the  divinity  of  Christ.  From  that 
period,  all  through  the  Middle  Ages,  the  great  Latin  poet  was  regarded  in  the 
Christian  Church  as  a  seer  and  a  preacher,  though  perhaps  unconsciously,  of 
•Christ.  It  was  even  the  habit  in  some  countries,  in  the  dramatic  representations 
-which  were  customary  in  the  ritual  of  the  Christian  festival  in  the  naves  of  great 
churches,  to  introduce  the  more  prominent  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  who 
recited  before  the  congregation  their  most  famous  prophetic  testimonies  to  the 
coming  Messiah ;  among  whom,  after  Moses,  David,  Isaiah,  Micah,  and  others  ef 
the  prophets  had  been  introduced,  Yirgil  came  forward,  and  was  invited  as 
"Prophet  of  the  Gentiles"  to  rehearse  his  witness  to  the  Christ  in  the  language 
of  the  well-known  "  Eclogue."  A  famous  mediasval  legend  relates  how  S.  Paul, 
passing  by  Naples  in  the  course  of  his  travels,  visited  the  tomb  of  Virgil,  and 
weeping  over  the  grave,  thus  addressed  the  dead  :    "  What  would  I  not  have  made 


160  EABLY    GEBISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

Virgil  may  be  taken  as  a  typical  Roman  of  the  more 
serious  class,  who,  from  patriotic  reasons,  if  not  on  deeper  and 
more  earnest  grounds,  looked  with  regret  on  the  past,  with  its 
more  austere  life,  and  its  belief  in  the  rule  of  the  gods ;  who 
gladly  welcomed  the  measures  which  Augustus  took  to  bring 
about  a  new  state  of  things  in  Rome,  especially  in  its  moral 
and  religious  life.  The  Emperor  had  no  ally  in  his  patriotic 
work  so  influential  as  the  universally  admired  poet. 

The  vivid  representation  of  the  life  of  the  soul  after  death, 
with  its  living  pictures  of  the  rewards  provided  for  the  good„ 
and  of  the  punishment  reserved  for  the  evil,  contained  in  the 
Sixth  Book  of  the  "  ^neid,"  read  and  re-read  as  it  was  by  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  strangely  affected  Roman  society,. 
and  directed  men's  thoughts  to  the  ever  pressing  questions 
connected  with  the  hereafter. 

In  his  lifetime  Virgil  had  absolutely  no  rival.  All  serious 
persons,  even  if  they  differed  from  his  conclusions,  welcomed 
and  read  his  verses.  They  were  used  almost  at  once  as  a 
text-boolv  in  the  schools.  So  great  was  his  popularity  that  it 
is  even  related  how  on  one  occasion,  when  he  was  noticed 
entering  the  theatre,  the  vast  assemblage  rose  as  one  man  and 
greeted  him  as  it  was  the  habit  to  greet  Augustus  himself. 
And  his  popularity  was  enduring.  The  influence  of  such  poems 
so  widel}'  and  generally  read  and  studied  as  were  the  "Georgics" 
and  the  "  /Eneid  "  must  have  been  enormous,  and  contributed, 
not  a  little  to  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  faith. 

One  sorrowful  fact,  however,  must  be  noticed  in  this, 
oui-  brief  sketch  of  the  re-awakening  of  the  worship  of  the 
old  gods  of  Rome.  In  spite  of  Augustus'  patriotic  zeal  for 
the  refoi'mation  of  morality,  in  the  face  of  the  admirable  laws 
which    were   put   out   to    this   end   in   his   reigii,   with  all   his 


of  thee,  0  lliou  greatest  of  the  poets,  had  I  only  found  thee  alive."     The  old  rhylhm 
of  the  traditionniy  hymn  or  poem  runs  thus  : 

"  Ad  Maronis  mausoleum 
Ductus,  fudit  super  eum 

Pi<e  roreui  lacrynife. 
'  Quem  te,'  inquit,  '  redidissem 
Si  te  vivum  inveuissein 
Poetarura  Maxime  ! '  " 


THE    REVIVAL     OF    PAGANISM.  151 

apparently  real  love  for  the  more  austere  and  purer  life  of  the 
primitive  Roman  people,  it  was  an  open  secret  that  the  private 
life  of  the  great  Emperor  was  terribly  stained  with  grave  moral 
irresfularities ;  and  later  in  his  reign  his  owti  sin  seems  to  have 
brought  its  punishment,  when  the  disorders  discovered  in  the 
Imperial  family  in  the  persons  of  his  daughter  and  grand- 
daughter were  punished  with  exile,  and  even  in  the  case  of 
some  of  the  guilt}"  accomplices  with  death.  And  among  his 
own  immediate  ministers,  friends,  and  courtiers,  there  were 
many  Sybarites  in  their  way  of  living ;  many  whose  admira- 
tion of  the  old  simple  chaste  life  was  confined  to  their  words 
and  expressions,  but  found  little  place  in  their  daily  life. 

There  is  no  doubt  how  sadly  these  things,  too  well  known 
in  the  city  and  Empire,  mihtated  against  the  complete  success 
of  the  re-awakeninsr  of  relisrion,  of  the  reformation  of  morals 
in  Rome  and  the  provinces.     But  when  due  allowance  for  all 
these  hindrances  and   drawbacks   has   been   made,  there  is  no 
doubt   that  the  wishes   of  Augustus,   so   magnificently  voiced 
by  Virgil,  especially  in  the  question  of  the  revival  of  religion, 
were  in  a  large  measure  crowned  with  success ;  and  before  the 
long  and  brilliant  reign  of  the  first  great  Emperor  was  closed, 
the    religion    of    Rome,     partly    based    on    primitive    Italian 
traditions,   partly   upon   the   Homeric    presentation    of    Greek 
religion,   with   certain   modifications   suggested   by  later  philo- 
sophic thought,  had  become  once  more  a  power  in  the  Empire. 
The  great  gods,  such  as  the  Jupiter  of  the  Capitol,  the  Venus 
Genetrix,   the   Mars  Ultor,  the  Apollo  of  the  Palatine,  whose 
splendid  temples,  rebuilt  or  restored,  dominated  the  great  city 
with  their  lordly  magnificence,  were  no  longer  the  objects  of 
contempt  and  derision  as  in  the  latter  years  of  the  Republic ; 
the  rites  performed  in  their  shrines  by  the  numerous  priests 
and  attendants  were  once  more  shared  in  by  the  people  of  all 
ranks  and  orders,  from  the  senator  to  the  slave ;  some  following 
the  gorgeous  and  striking  ritual  because  it  was  the  fashion  of 
the   day,   set   by  the  Emperor  and  his   court,   others  without 
doubt  sharing  in  the  restored  and  revived  worship  with  feelings 
of  genuine  devotion  and  unfeigned  adoration. 

After  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Augustus,  the  restorer  ot 


152  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Paganism,  the  period  covered  by  the  reigns  of  Tiberius,  Caligula, 
and  Nero,  with  its  unbridled  tyranny,  its  cruelties,  its  reck- 
less confiscations,  its  contempt  for  life  on  the  part  of  the 
rulers  of  the  Roman  world,  was  on  the  Avhole  favourable  to 
the  development  of  the  newly-awakened  faith  in  the  gods  ; 
especially  favourable  to  a  deepened  belief  in  the  future  lil'e, 
in  rewards  and  punishments  after  the  fret  and  fever  of  this 
present  existence  were  passed.  For  men  are  ever  ready  to 
turn  to  religion  in  times  of  stress  and  danger  and  sorrow. 
So  the  trend  of  events  in  those  bloodstained  reigns,  when 
human  life  was  held  so  cheap,  tended  to  draw  Roman  society 
in  the  direction  pointed  out  by  the  reforms  of  Augustus. 
Strangely  enough,  though  from  very  different  motives,  the 
evil  Emperors  who  immediately  followed  Augustus  were 
solicitous  for  the  prosperity  of  religion.  Tiberius  was  learned 
in  ancient  customs,  and  watched  over  the  old  Pagan  ritual 
and  those  who  were  in  charq;e  of  the  elaborate  Pagan  rites, 
conferring  upon  them  additional  rights  and  privileges. 
Claudius  was  superstitiously  devout ;  Nero,  who  mocked  at 
the  work  of  Augustus  and  made  light  of  the  gods,  in  his 
way,  too,  was  superstitious,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  anxiously 
■consulting  the  auspices.  The  nobler  successors  of  Augustus 
were  all  of  them  anxious  for  the  preservation  of  the  ancient 
religion,  believing  that  the  prosperity  of  the  Empire  was 
closely  linked  with  the  maintenance  of  the  worship  of  the 
gods  whom  their  fathers,  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
world -Empire,  served  so  zealously. 


SECTION    111. — THE  DEIFICATION   OF   THE   EMPERORS. 

One  singular  development  of  Paganism  requires,  at  least,  a 
brief  study.  Again  and  again,  when  in  Rome  or  in  the 
provinces  a  persecution  of  the  Christians  in  "  the  250  years  " 
was  formally  decreed,  or  was  suddenly  excited  by  popular 
clamour,  the  accused  Christian  was  frequently,  perhaps  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  publicly  brought  in  front  of  the  statue 
of  the  deified   Emperor  and   challenged,  if  he  valued  his  life, 


THE    REVIVAL    OF    PAGANISM.  153 

to  offer  incense,  and  then  to  perform  an  act  of  adoration  to 
the  Imperial  personage  portrayed  by  the  image  before  him. 
Again  and  again  the  Christian  firmly  refused,  with  the  in- 
variable result  that  the  life  of  the  bold  protester  against 
this  form  of  idolatry  was  forfeited.  "  I  do  not  call  the 
Emperor  a  god,"  wrote  Tertullian  in  his  famous  "  Apology " 
(33-4),  thus  powerfully  voicing  the  Christian  shudder  at  this 
extraordinary  development  of  idol  worship ;  "  I  cannot  lie 
.  .  .  I  have  but  one  Master,  who  is,  too,  the  Emperor's 
Master.  Him  must  we  adore,  if  we  wish  Him  to  bless  Ciesar. 
Do  not  call  him  God  who  can  do  nothing  without  God's 
help." 

The  genesis  of  tliis  curious  cult,  which  became  eventually 
so  prominent  a  feature  in  the  government  of  Imperial  Rome, 
was  as  follows.  Among  the  nations  of  antiquity  it  was  a 
common  practice  for  the  various  cities  to  pay  divine  honours 
to  their  supposed  founders.  This  local  hero  was  ever  a 
favourite  object  of  adoration  among  the  people,  and  even 
the  more  cultured  citizens  joined  in  the  popular  worship  for 
various  obvious  reasons.  In  the  East,  the  people  went  a 
step  further,  and  paid  divine  honours  to  all  their  sovereigns 
without  distinction,  without  reference  to  their  deserts  as 
founders,  legislators,  benefactors,  or  conquerors.  So  in  Egypt 
Pharaoh  was  ever  regarded  as  divine,  and  later  in  the  same 
country  the  Ptolemies  were  careful  to  maintain  their  title 
to  their  divine  rank  among  men.  Greece  in  its  later  period, 
when  its  ancient  liberty  was  gone,  servilely  imitated  the  East, 
and  was  content  to  adore  its  various  masters,  unworthy 
tyrants  though  they  too  often  were.  In  Italy  it  was  different ; 
it  is  true  that  in  some  way  the  Italians  chose  to  regard  as 
deities  the  old  mythic  kings  of  Latium,  such  as  Picus,  Faunus, 
Latinus ;  but  of  the  ancient  kings  of  Rome,  only  Romulus 
appears  to  have  received  divine  honours.  We  never  hear 
even  of  the  revered  Numa  or  of  any  of  his  royal  successors 
bemg  regarded  as  gods  in  Rome.  Yet  even  in  Rome  and 
Italy  the  way  for  the  later  Emperor-worship  was  prepared 
by  the  general  custom  in  family  hfe  which  chose  to  regard 
"  the  departed "  in  the  light  of  powerful  spirits  (Dii  Manes), 


154  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

spirits  who  were  accessible  to  the  prayers  of  dear  ones  they 
had  left  on  earth,  and  to  whom  they  were  enabled  under 
certain  conditions  still  to  afford  assistance  and  protection. 
Thus  the  father,  or  head  of  the  household,  after  death,  often 
received  worship  from  the  members  of  his  family.  The 
"  Lares,"  according  to  popular  opinion,  were  the  souls  of 
ancestors,  and  these  "  Lares "  were  very  commonly  the  object 
of  family  worship  in  Rome. 

The  Stoic  philosophy  which  often  accommodated  itself 
to  popular  views,  endeavoured  to  modify  this  belief  by  teach- 
ing that  it  was  only  the  souls  of  the  good  and  great  who 
were  thus  privileged  from  their  home  in  the  other  world  to 
protect  and  assist  their  kinsfolk. 

But  the  first  formally  deified  Prince  in  Rome  was  Julius 
Csesar.  No  great  hero  perhaps  ever  captured  popular  opinion 
as  did  the  mighty  conqueror  who  had  won  for  his  native 
city  and  country  such  world-wide  fiime  and  power ;  and  who, 
through  his  marvellous  series  of  campaigns,  had  made  Rome 
the  capital  of  an  Empire  hitherto  imdreamed  of.  Julius 
Ceesar  was  something  more  than  the  gTcatest  of  conquerors. 
As  a  ruler  lie  was  passionately  loved  as  well  as  greatly 
admired  in  Rome  and  Italy.  We  have  already  noticed  the 
real  and  intense  devotion  he  had  acquired  among  the  Jews, 
that  strangest  of  foreign  colonies  in  the  capital  city.  The 
pathetic  circumstances  of  his  tragic  death  served  to  fan  the 
flame  of  love  and  devotion  with  which  that  great  master 
of  the  Roman  world  was  regarded  at  Rome  ;  and  the  deifica- 
tion of  Julius  Ciesar  was  the  result  of  an  incontroliable 
popular  movement.  It  was  not  long  before  the  worship  of 
the  new  god  was  legally  established,  and  with  strange  rapidity 
the  cult  of  the  murdered  sovereign  spread  throughout  the 
Roman  world,  conquerors  and  conquered  alike  agreeing  to 
reirard  Julius  Cffisar  as  a  ffod. 

We  pass  by  the  efforts  of  smaller  men  such  as  Sextus 
Pompeius  an;l  Antony,  who  obtained  temporary  power  when 
Caisar  had  passed  away,  to  win  for  themselves  among  their 
contemporaries  divine  honours  similar  to  those  accorded  by 
the  popular  love  to  the   great   Julius ;   and   we   pause  at  the 


TEE    REVIVAL    OF    PAGANISM.  155 

story  of  the  great  ruler  best  known  as  the  Emperor 
Augustus. 

In  the  servile  eastern  provinces,  after  the  successful 
campaigns  which  witnessed  the  ruin  of  the  hopes  of  his 
competitors  for  the  Empire,  Augustus  was  quickly  selected 
as  a  deity;  but  he  only  permitted  this  form  of  adulation  on 
condition  of  being  associated  in  the  temples  dedicated  to 
him  with  the  goddess  Roma.  A  number  of  such  temples 
soon  arose  in  the  principal  provinces  in  honour  of  '■'  Augustus 
and  Roma,"  and  this  example  was  followed,  but  more  sparingly, 
in  the  west.  In  Italy  this  Imperial  cult  was  long  discouraged ; 
and  though  before  he  passed  away  there  were  temples  in 
his  honour  in  many  of  the  more  important  Italian  cities, 
Rome,  while  Augustus  lived,  was  dishonoured  by  no  example 
of  this  strange,  impious  flattery.  After  his  death  the  Senate 
at  once,  by  a  formal  decree,  pronounced  that  the  late  Emperor 
was  henceforth  to  be  reckoned  among  the  gods.  At  his 
State  funeral,  a  ceremony  of  imposmg  splendour  in  the 
Campus  Martins,  care  was  taken  that  an  eagle  should  be 
seen  by  the  crowd  soaring  from  the  burning  pile,  as  though 
bearing  the  soul  of  the  departed  monarch  to  Olympus — a 
theatrical  confirmation  of  the  Senate's  decree  Avhich  seems, 
however,  to  have  been  usually  omitted  in  the  case  of  the 
deified  successors  of  the  first  Augustus. 

The  apotheosis  of  the  founder  of  the  long  and  stately 
line  of  the  Emperors  of  Rome,  although  Augustus  had  to 
a  certain  extent  outlived  the  wonderful  popularity  which  he 
enjoyed  in  his  earUer  years,  was  generally  well  received. 
Outwardly  at  all  events  in  Rome,  as  in  the  provinces,  un- 
numbered prayers  from  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  were 
offered  up  on  the  altars  of  "Divus  Augustus,"  whose  life, 
though  sadly  stained  with  private  vices,  had  been  beneficial 
on  the  whole  to  the  great  Empire  over  which  he  had  so 
long  ruled;  but  it  was,  after  all,  a  strange  life  to  hold  up 
to  the  veneration  and  adoration  of  a  world ! 

Some  scholars  who  seek  to  explain  this  strange  and  yet 
generally  popular  form  of  idolatry,  which  continued  to  hold 
its  own  well-nigh  all  through  the  period  of  the  Empire  before 


156  EAELY   CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM, 

the  barbarian  flood,  bad  become  something  more  than  a 
menace — roughly  S23eaking,  a  period  extending  over  nearly 
four  centuries — tell  us  how,  while  Rome  hesitated  to  pay 
divine  honour  to  the  living  Emperor,  as  a  rule  contenting 
itself  with  acknowledging  the  departed  sovereign  as  God, 
the  provinces  had  no  such  scruple,  but  worshipped  the 
reigning  sovereign  as  well  as  the  deified  dead  Emperors ; 
and  they  further  explain  the  provmcial  cult  as  an  act  of 
grateful  loyalty  to  the  Roman  Empire  under  whose  mighty 
shadow  they  lived  in  peace  and  comparative  security.  The 
worship  of  the  Emperors  in  the  provinces  was  in  other 
words  the  worship  of  the  Roman  power  in  the  person  of  the 
Emperor,  who  was  the  appointed  representative  of  that 
power. 

This  worship  of  the  Emperor,  then,  may  be  taken  as  the 
symbol  of  the  unit}^  of  the  vast  Empire  made  up  of  so  man}- 
nationalities.  Every  province,  every  important  provincial 
city,  usually  possessed  its  own  special  deity,  as,  for  instance, 
Ephesus  adored  Diana  (Artemis) ;  Pergamos  worshipped 
.Esculapius ;  Cj'^ziqua  especially  honoured  Proserpine.  But 
the  priest  or  flamen  of  "  Augustus  and  Rome "  represented 
the  whole  Empire ;  and  thus  there  was  a  solidarity  of  worship 
extending  over  Rome  and  all  the  outlying  provinces.  "  Flamen 
Romre,  Divorum  et  Augusti,"  was  the  general  title  of  the 
priest  of  the  Imperial  cult. 

The  Christian,  who  naturally  refused  with  indignation 
to  offer  incense  at  this  national  altar,  in  a  way  separated 
himself  from  the  religion  of  the  Empire ;  and  his  refusal 
was  construed  by  the  Imperial  magistrate  as  an  act  of  dis- 
loyalty to  the  supreme  Government  and  to  Rome. 

It  is  true  that  in  some  cities  there  were  various  temples 
dedicated  to  several  Emperors,  who  more  or  less  had  won 
or  deserved  popular  recognition ;  as,  for  instance,  in  wealthy 
commercial  Ostia,  the  port  of  the  capital  of  the  world, 
which  possessed  several  distinct  "  Imperial "  shrines.  But, 
as  a  rule,  in  an  ordinary  city  the  majesty  of  the  Emperors 
collectively  was  venerated  in  one  common  "  Imperial  " 
temple. 


THE    REVIVAL     OF    P  AG  AXIS  M.  157 

But  the  question  presses  for  a  more  direct  answer:  Was 
this  worship  at  a  temple  of  an  Emperor  of  Rome — or  at  a 
shrine  where,  perhaps,  many  Emperors  were  adored  in  a 
group,  some  of  whom  were  monsters  of  cruelty  and  vice, 
some  of  them  poor  creatures  at  best,  and  only  a  few  really 
orreat  and  noble — a  genuine  expression  of  the  hearts  of  the 
worshippers  ?  Or  was  it  merely  a  piece  of  hypocrisy,  a  courtly, 
flattering  falsehood,  repeated  and  repeated  again  throughout 
the  vast  Roman  world  for  nigh  upon  four  centuries  ?  In 
the  latter  case  the  dragging  of  Christians  before  such  shrines, 
the  scenes  of  conscious  h}^ocrisy  and  untruth,  the  requir- 
ing them  under  pain  of  death  and  agony  to  worship  there, 
to  share  in  these  scenes  of  unreality  and  pretence,  would 
increase  enormously  the  crime  of  official  Paganism. 

A  patient  study,  however,  of  this  strange  Imperial  cult 
on  the  whole  purges  it  of  this  dark  stain  of  unreality  and 
conscious  hypocrisy.  It  was  first  of  all,  undoubtedly  in 
the  provinces,  a  most  popular  form  of  idolatry.  Melito, 
Bishop  of  Sardis,  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  second  century, 
for  instance,  tells  us  in  his  "  Apology "  that  the  statues  of 
the  Csesars  were  more  venerated  than  the  images  of  the 
ancient  deities.  This  is  partly  accounted  for  when  we 
remember  how  "  the  majesty  of  Rome "  was  closely  asso- 
ciated with  the  Emperor,  and  how  in  venerating  the  Csesar, 
the  genius  or  the  power  of  Rome  w^as  included  in  the  act  of 
adoration ;  and  a  feeling  of  deep  gratitude  to  the  powder  or 
genius  of  Rome  for  the  peace  and  prosperity  they  enjoyed 
undoubtedly  lived  among  the  majority  of  the  provincials. 
Their  adoration,  therefore,  at  these  Imperial  shrines  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  mere  hypocrisy.  These  worshippers 
were,  according  to  the  light  they  possessed,  in  most  instances 
probably  sincere. 

In  the  case  of  the  army,  too,  among  those  legions 
stationed  in  so  many  quarters  of  the  Roman  world,  the 
worship  of  the  Ceesar  was  no  doubt  a  reality.  These  would 
not  even  need  the  association  of  "  the  genius  of  Rome "  to 
give  the  cult  of  the  Emperor  a  reality.  As  a  rule  the 
soldiery,  when   faithful,  were   devotedly,  passionately  attached 


158  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

to  their  supreme  chief;  the  wicked  Nero,  ahnost  to  the 
last,  threw  his  glamour  over  the  legions. 

If  anywhere,  it  is  in  Rome,  where  most  of  the  thought- 
leaders  of  the  Empire  congregated,  that  we  must  seek  for 
doubters  and  scorners  when  the  question  of  the  reality  of 
the  worship  of  the  Emperors  presented  itself.  It  was  in 
Rome  that  these  deified  ones  principally  lived.  The  little- 
nesses, the  ignoble  vices,  the  dark  crimes  of  the  magnificent 
Cagsar,  were  too  well  known  to  the  dwellers  hard  by  the 
sumptuous  and  stately  group  of  buildings  on  the  Palatine. 
Could  the  Roman  citizens,  living  as  they  did  beneath  the 
shadow  of  the  Cesar's  house,  acquiesce  in  the  worship  of 
these  strange  gods  ? 

And  yet,  curiously  enough,  there  is  little  outward  sign 
even  of  Rome's  repugnance  to  this  worship.  The  apotheosis 
of  Augustus  appears  to  have  been  honestly  Avelcomed  as 
heartily  in  Rome  as  it  was  in  the  provinces.  Even  Seneca, 
philosopher  and  statesman,  who  certainly  now  and  again 
had  his  doubts  as  to  the  righteousness  of  the  Imperial  cult, 
thus  writes  of  the  deification  of  Augustus :  "  For  us  to  believe 
that  he,  Augustus,  is  a  God,  no  compulsion  is  necessary." 
The  younger  Pliny  again  addressed  Trajan  in  these  words : 
"  You  have  deified  your  (adoptive)  father  (Nerva),  not  from 
any  feeling  of  vanity,  or  to  insult  heaven,  but  simply  because 
you  believe  him  a  God."  These  are  surely  strong  words  con- 
firmatory of  the  bona  fides,  the  sincerity  of  Pliny  the  scholar- 
statesman,  and  of  Trajan  the  great  and  good  Emperor. 

Occasionally,  it  is  true,  public  opinion  at  Rome  was 
revolted  at  some  glaring  and  monstrous  attempt  made  by 
some  irresponsible  Ctesar  to  deify  ridiculous  and  discreditable 
personages;  as  when  Nero  proclaimed  Poppsea  a  goddess,  or 
Hadrian  insisted  on  the  worship  of  Antinous.  But  even 
these  insulting  promotions  of  infamous  mortals  to  the  rank 
of  the  deified,  although,  no  doubt  in  Rome  at  least,  they 
weakened  the  theory  of  Imperial  worship,  had  no  permanent 
effect  on  this  most  popular  cult.  Indeed,  as  time  went  on  it 
grew  more  general.  It  was  at  its  height  in  the  days  of 
Marcus  Aurelius  in  the  second  half  of  the  second  century. 


THE    REVIVAL    OF    PAGANISM.  159 

It  has  been  suggested,  with  great  ingenuity,  that  probably 
while  the  masses,  especially  in  the  provinces,  accepted  the 
deified  Emperors  as  genuine  gods,  and  addressed  their  prayers 
to  them  as  such,  the  more  enlightened,  especially  at  Rome, 
regarded  them  rather  in  the  light  of  the  demi-gods,  or  as  the 
Heroes  of  Greek  worship  ;  ditterentiating  between  the  divus 
(divine)  prefixed  to  the  name  of  the  deified  Csesar,  and  the 
sacred  term  Deus  (God) ;  but  this  difference  in  signification 
was  certainly  not  primitive,  nor  do  the  above  quoted  words 
of  such  serious  writers  as  Seneca  and  the  younger  Pliny  at 
all  support  the  ingenious  hypothesis  in  question. 

Following  up  this  hypothesis,  to  quote  a  purely  Christian 
usage  and  to  pursue  a  train  of  purely  Christian  ideas,  the 
official  senatorial  decree  of  deification  was  in  effect  a  sort  of 
"canonisation,"  which  in  the  eyes  of  the  more  instructed 
placed  the  deified  Emperor  among  the  saints  in  blessedness, 
neither  more  nor  less.  The  loftier  conception  which  ranked 
him  as  divine  and  on  the  same  level  as  the  immortal  gods, 
was  probably  held  by  the  uncultured  masses. 

But  this  ingenious  suggestion,  for  it  is  nothing  more,  even 
if  it  be  adopted,  cannot  be  said  to  fully  explain  this  worship 
of  the  deified  Emperors;  which  is  and  must  remain  a  grave 
difficulty  in  any  intelligent  conception  of  Paganism.  The 
cult  of  the  Emperors  was  a  worship  which  was  almost  universal 
in  the  period  which  lies  between  the  death  of  JuUus  Csesar 
and  the  Edict  of  Constantine. 

For  there  is  no  shadow  of  doubt  that  the  Emperor,  living 
or  dead,  thus  formally  honoured  by  a  decree  of  the  Senate, 
became  at  once  in  the  eyes  of  the  general  Roman  world  a 
god  in  the  loftiest  sense  of  the  word.  That  some  persons 
were  utterly  incredulous,  and  mocked  at  the  pretentious  claim 
of  the  newly  elevated  Imperial  colleague  of  the  immortals, 
is  more  than  probable ;  but  as  a  rule  these  scornful  doubts 
were  veiled,  and  the  whole  Roman  world  may  be  said  to 
have  acquiesced  in  the  worship  of  each  newly  deified  mem- 
ber of  the  Imperial  line  of  princes,  as  the  equal  of  the 
great  gods,  the  objects  of  the  reverent  worship  of  then  fore- 
fathers. 


IGO  EAELY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 


SECTIOX   lY. — SACERDOTAL    CORPORATIONS. 

It  was  indeed  a  wonderful  renaissance  of  the  old  Roman 
religion,  this  work  of  Augustus ;  what  seemed  to  be  dying  out 
sprang  up  again  with  new  and  vigorous  life.  Augustus  was 
persuaded  that  the  prosperity  of  Rome  was  thus  linked  with 
the  maintenance  of  the  ancient  cult,  and,  as  we  have  seen 
his  policy  was  adopted  and  continued  by  his  successors  in 
the  Empire,  the  Emperor  Marcus  (a.d.  161-80)  following  out 
the  policy  with  perhaps  greater  ardour  than  any  of  his 
predecessors. 

Very  carefully  indeed  were  the  hallowed  traditions  of  the 
past  revived,  as  belonging  to  the  story  of  the  making  of  Rome, 
closel}^  linked  in  the  policy  of  Augustus  and  the  Emperors 
with  the  maintenance  and  further  development  of  Rome's 
grandeur  and  power.  Among  these  hallowed  traditions  we 
have  not  alluded  to  the  ancient  sacerdotal  corporations  which 
had,  especially  in  the  latter  years  of  the  Republic,  in  a 
measure  passed  out  of  sight  and  been  suffered  to  deca}-. 
Augustus  revived  these  and  re-established  them,  if  possible 
giving  them  more  than  their  ancient  position  and  influence ; 
and  these  powerful  religious  corporations,  then  re-established, 
continued  to  flourish,  some  of  them,  until  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine,  when  naturally  with  the  fall  of  Paganism  they  sank 
into  decay  and  oblivion.^  Of  these  brotherhoods  we  may 
mention,  as  instances,  the  Salii  and  the  Luperci.  To  be  a 
member  of  one  of  these  corporations  was  a  privilege  highly 
esteemed  under  the  rule  of  the  Pagan  Emperors.  The  young 
Marcus  Aurolius,  for  instance,  was  admitted  into  the  Salian 
confraternity  when  he  was  only  eight  years  old,  and  sub- 
sequently became  the  president ;  and  prided  himself  on  his 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  ritual  which  was  used  when  a  new 
member  was  admitted  to  the  college. 

But  of  these  sacerdotal  colleges  that  of  the  Arval  Brothers  was 
the  most  famous  and  perhaps  the  best  known.  The}^  traced 
their  foundation  back  to  the  times  of  Romulus,  the  first  King 

*  The  probable  date  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Arval  Brotherhood  was,  however, 
earlier,  circa  a.d.  244-49.     This  is  discussed  briefly  at  the  close  of  this  section. 


THE    REVIVAL    OF   PAGANISM.  161 

of  Rome.  Romulus,  so  said  the  ancient  tradition,  with  the 
eleven  sons  of  Acca  Laurentia,  his  nurse,  had  been  the  first 
Arval  Brothers.  They  appear  to  have  been  united  as  a  college 
of  priests,  instituted  to  pray  and  sacrifice  to  the  gods  who 
presided  over  the  fruits  of  the  fields ;  hence  their  name,  from 
arva,  the  fields.  They  invoked  the  blessing  of  the  immortals 
upon  agriculture,  in  accordance  with  a  very  old  form  of  Roman 
worship.  The  chief  deity  invoked  was  feminine,  but  nameless, 
pointmg  to  a  period  anterior  to  the  introduction  of  divinities 
with  specific  functions.     She  is  mvoked  simply  as  "Dea  Dia." 

During  the  Republic,  whilst  always  existing  as  a  con- 
fraternity, we  learn  little  of  these  Arval  Brothers.  They  had 
nothing  to  do  apparently  with  the  State,  hence  the  silence 
which  rests  upon  them.  In  the  renaissance  of  religion  and  of 
archaic  customs  under  Augustus  the  Arvals  received  a  large 
share  of  Imperial  patronage ;  this  was  especially  owing  to 
the  hoar  antiquity  of  their  foundation  and  the  mystic  reference 
of  their  ceremonies  and  ritual  to  agriculture  and  that  primitive 
rural  Ufe  in  which  the  reforming  Emperor  took  so  deep  an 
interest.  Under  the  Empire  the  confraternity  numbered  among- 
its  members  many  of  the  foremost  personages  in  Rome,  with 
the  Emperor  himself  at  its  head.  It  was  considered  a  high 
honour  to  be  one  of  the  ancient  corporation,  and  in  a  list  of 
titles  and  dignities  j)i'oudly  displayed  by  a  powerful  Roman 
under  the  Empire,  the  fact  of  being  an  Arval  Brother  was 
never  omitted. 

Their  chief  annual  festival  lasted  three  daj^s.  Careful 
minutes  of  their  proceedings  were  kept,  and  we  leam  from 
these  that  a  most  elaborate  ceremonial  was  observed,  consisting  of 
sacrifice  and  prayer,  processions,  and  official  repasts.  A  special 
dress,  too,  was  required,  the  whole  ritual  being  based  on  ancient 
tradition.  Late  discoveries  have  locahsed  the  site  of  the 
sanctuary  where  these  Arval  mysteries  were  performed.  It 
seems  to  have  been  some  few  miles  from  Rome  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Tiber,  as  it  flowed  through  the  Campagna  from 
Rome  to  Ostia. 

In  the  little  book  of  the  Arval  rites  which  was  given  to 
each  brother  was  the  famous  sacred  song  of  the  Arvals,  which 

L 


162  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

had  come  do^vn  from  remote  antiquity,  and  which  they  repeated 
without  perhaps  understanding  its  archaic  phraseology.* 

This  fashionable  revival  of  a  very  ancient  guild  or  con- 
fraternity thus  introduced  into  a  company  or  brotherhood, 
made  up  during  the  Empire  of  the  noblest  and  most  illus- 
trious of  the  Romans,  memories  and  traditional  usages  handed 
down  from  Ronmlus  and  the  earliest  of  the  Kinsfs  of  Rome. 

The  Arval  Brotherhood  were  besides  especially  bound  to 
lo3'al  duties  in  connection  with  the  reigning  Emperor  and 
his  Imperial  house.  They  solemnly  "  kept "  his  birthday  and 
the  birthdays  of  his  family,  celebrating,  too,  the  memories  of 
any  victories  in  which  he  had  been  concerned. 

Fragments  of  marble  tablets  on  which  the  acts  of  the  Arval 
Brotherhood  are  inscribed  have  been  discovered,  with  dates  which 
show  its  existence  from  the  early  days  of  the  Empire  down 
to  A.D.  238.  Nothing,  however,  has  been  found  bearinsf  a  later 
date  than  this — the  Emperor  Gordian's  name  being  on  the 
last  dated  fragment. 

It  would  seem  as  though  shortly  after  the  death  of 
Oordian  the  confraternity  ceased  to  exist.  Most  probably  the 
favourable  disposition  of  the  Emperor  Philip,  a.d.  244  to 
A.D.  249,  towards  Christianity  determined  him  to  put  an  end 
to  the  famous  Pagan  college  in  which  the  reigning  Emperor 
occupied  so  prominent  a  position,  f 


SECTION     V. — THE    ADMISSION    OF    FOREIGN    DEITIES    AMONG    THE 
OLD   GODS   OF   ROME. 

Mingled  with  the  old  gods  of  Italy  were  the  gods  of  the 
many  nations  who  had  been  subjected  to  the  authority  of 
Rome.  The  Roman  was  ever  ready  to  recognise  the  points 
of  similarity  between  the  gods  of  a  conquered  people  and  his 
own  ancestral  deities.  So  Julius  Caesar  writes  of  the  Gauls : 
"  They    especially    honour    Mercury,    and    after    him    Apollo, 

*  The  Song  of  the  Arval  Brothers  has  come  down  to  us,  and  scholars  consitler 
it  the  oldest  specimen  existin^^  of  the  primitive  Latin  ton2;ue. 

t  Compare  De  Rossi's  Ihdletuio  di  Ai-chcdogia  Christiana,  1869,  p.  14,  and 
Alhird,  Histoire  des  Ferstcutions,  vol.  ii.,  vi.  2. 


THU    REVIVAL    OF   PAGANISM.  163 

Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Minerva."  In  a  like  spirit,  long  before 
Ceesar,  during  the  weary  siege  of  Yeii,  which  lasted  ten 
years,  the  besiegers  admired  the  "Juno  Kegina"  of  Veii,  who 
had  mspired  the  city's  splendid  resistance  ;  and  Livy  relates 
how,  when  at  length  the  place  fell,  the  captors  with  all 
reverence  drew  near  the  sacred  image,  and  asked  if  she  were 
willing  to  follow  them  to  Rome.  On  receiving  a  sign  of 
acquiescence,  the  idol  symbol  of  the  goddess  was  brought  to 
the  city  of  the  conquerors.* 

This  spirit  of  accommodation  tended  to  facilitate  the 
settlement  of  the  conquered  people.  There  were  no  religious 
antipathies  to  be  guarded  against.  In  many  cases,  as  we 
have  seen  above  in  the  instance  of  Veii,  the  strange  gods 
of  the  conquered  were  brought  to  Rome  and  even  adored 
there.  These  introductions  of  foreign,  especially  of  oriental 
gods,  who  had  apparently  little  in  common  with  the  ancient 
Italian  deities,  began  before  the  days  of  the  Empire.  We 
read  of  the  triumvirs,  after  the  death  of  Julius  Ctesar,  build- 
ing a  temple  to  Isis  and  Serapis.  Rapidly  the  influence  of 
oriental  cults  mcreased  at  Rome.  Mithras,  adored  in  far 
distant  Persia,  became  in  the  early  days  of  the  Empire  a 
favourite  divinity  among  the  lower  classes  of  the  metropolis 
of  the  world.  In  the  latter  days  of  the  Antonines  this 
eastern  cult  grew  more  and  more  popular.  In  the  third 
century  the  temples  of  Mithras  became  perhaps  the  most 
sought  after  and  thronged  of  the  many  Pagan  sanctuaries  in 
Rome  and  in  the  great  provincial  centres. 

It  is  a  debated  question  whether  or  no  this  curious 
admixture  of  oriental  cults,  this  gradual  association  of  the 
deities  of  Egypt  and  Syria  and  Persia  with  the  ancient 
worship  of  Italy  and  of  Rome,  injured  or  strengthened 
Paganism. 

On  the  one  hand  it  is  clear  that  the  introduction  of  the 
emotional  rites  of  the  Syrian  divinities,  the  mysteries  of 
Egyptian    Isis,    the    strange    and    picturesque    ritual    of    the 

*  It  is  true  that  the  "Juno  Regina "  of  Veii  was  one  of  the  old  Italian 
deiiie.s,  but  I  have  quoted  this  as  a  >^triking  and  familiar  instance  of  the  recogni- 
tion and  adoption  by  Rome  of  the  special  deity  of  a  rival  and  conquered  city 


164  EARLY    GHUISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Persian  Mithras,  to  take  prominent  examples,  accorded  ill 
with  the  original  designs  of  Augustus,  so  happily  set  forth 
by  his  friend  and  confidant  Virgil.  These  eastern  forms  of 
worship  really  had  little  in  common  with  the  comparatively 
calm,  gi'ave  devotion  paid  to  the  gods  whom  Augustus  pro- 
fessed to  revere,  and  of  whom  Virgil  sang.  The  emotional 
extravagances  of  eastern  religion  were  distrusted  at  heart  b)' 
tlie  old  Roman  spirit  which  Augustus  and  his  fi'iends,  by 
their  zeal  and  industry,  contrived  to  awake. 

On  the  other  hand  it  has  been  ably  argued  that  without 
this  oriental  admixture  of  passion  and  mystery,  the  ancient 
Roman  cult,  with  its  simple  ritual,  its  cold  and  majestic 
creed,  would  never  have  obtained  a  permanent  hold  on  the 
great  cosmopolitan  cities  over  which  a  Tiberius  and  a  Trajan, 
a  Hadrian  and  a  Marcus  ruled;  that  never  without  this  new 
element  of  oriental  worship  could  Paganism  have  held  its 
own  for  more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half  against  the 
transparent  truth,  the  quiet  earnestness,  and  the  sublime 
teaching  of  that  Christianity  which  in  the  end  swept  all 
these  false  religions  away. 

The  answer  to  such  interesting  and  debatable  questions 
tarries;  it  will  never  be  fully  supplied.  One  thing,  however, 
is  clear.  Under  the  Empire  Paganism,  allied  as  it  was  with 
the  majesty  of  Rome,  was  a  real  power;  and  though  the 
eventual  issue  of  its  long  contest  Avith  Christianity  was,  as 
we  see  now^  never  for  an  instant  doubtful,  it  was  a  long 
and  deadly  struggle,  and  was  only  won  by  the  brave  patience, 
the  constant  endurance  of  suffering,  the  quiet,  burning 
faith,  of  several  generations  of  Christian  men  and  women 
in  many  lands,  who  in  countless  instances  welcomed  death 
and  torture  rather  than  deny  their  beautiful  true   creed. 

To  a  superficial  observer  it  seems  strange,  on  first  thought, 
that  the  Roman  who  more  than  tolerated  all  religions,  who 
even  had  welcomed  the  gods  of  every  nation  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact,  yet  made  a  stern  exception  of  the 
religion  of  the  Christian,  and  the  Christ  Avhom  the  Christian 
worshipped.  It  seems,  indeed,  strange  how  it  came  to  pass 
thnt    in    Rome,    the  religious   as   well  as  the    secular    capital 


THE    IlEVIVAL   OF  PAGANISM.  165 

ot  the  world,  where  the  gods  of  all  the  peoples  of  the 
vast  empire  possessed  special  sanctuaries  and  altars,  Christ 
alone  was  proscribed,  and  His  votaries  alone  were  reckoned 
as  outlaws  and  enemies  of  the  State. 

But,  after  all,  this  singular  position  of  Christianity  in 
the  Roman  Empire,  this  standing  alone  among  all  religions 
as  the  one  proscribed  and  forbidden,  was  owing  to  the 
conduct  of  the  Christians  themselves.  Other  religions,  eastern 
and  western,  were  content  to  dwell  together,  content  mutually 
to  acknowledge  and  respect  each  other.  And  in  Rome,  the 
religious  capital  of  the  world,  as  we  have  noticed,  the 
Persian  Mithras,  the  Egyptian  Isis,  and  the  Roman  Jupiter 
each  had  their  temples,  their  sanctuaries  and  their  altars, 
side  by  side.  The  sanctity  of  each  was  acknowledged  by 
the  Roman  people.  The  worshippers  among  the  citizens 
and  dwellers  in  Rome  indifferently  adored  at  one  or  other 
of  these  shrines.  But  the  Christian  Avas  sternly  forbidden 
by  the  tenets  of  his  holy  faith  to  make  any  such  concession. 
To  him  the  Egyptian  Isis,  the  Persian  Mithras,  the  Roman 
Jupiter  were  equally  abhorrent.  They  were  each  and  all 
idols.  In  the  words  of  his  sacred  oracles,  "  He  that  sacrificeth 
unto  any  God,  save  imto  the  Lord  only,  he  shall  be  destroyed.""^ 
(Exod.  xxii.  20.) 

*  In  the  above  study  Christianity  is  dwelt  upon  as  being  the  solitary  example 
of  a  religion  not  tolerated  by  the  Roman  power.  The  Jew  is  not  noticed  here ; 
although  the  Jewish  religion  too,  owing  to  its  intense  horror  of  all  idolatry,  would 
have  stood  outside  the  pale  of  cults  acknowledged  by  Rome.  "  Judsea  gens 
contumeHa  numinum  insignis  "  (the  Jewish  race  conspicuous  for  its  contempt  for 
the  gods),  wrote  Pliny.  [Hisf.  Nat.,  xiii.  4.)  But  at  a  comparatively  early  date 
in  the  Empire  the  Jewish  religion  became  involved  in  the  grave  political  complica- 
tions which  disturbed  all  the  relations  of  the  Jewish  nation  and  the  Empire. 
Before  a.d.  70  the  immemorial  sacred  capital  of  the  Jews  was  stormed  and  captured 
"by  Titus  as  the  result  of  the  great  Jewish  revolt  in  the  reign  of  Vespasian.  The 
people,  however,  still  stubbornly  refused  to  submit,  and  the  long  succession  of 
formidable  uprisings  was  only  closed  in  a.d.  136,  when  Jerusalem  was  again  taken, 
.and  this  time  razed  to  the  ground.  The  people  were  banished,  and  vast  numbers 
perished.  After  this  terrible  punishment,  inflicted  by  the  Emperor  Hadrian, 
the  Jews  may  be  said  to  have  existed  no  more  as  a  localised  nation.  Hencefortii 
the  scattered  and  impoverished  people  were  not  of  sufficient  importance  to  be 
objects  of  any  real  jealousy  or  dread  on  the  part  of  the  Imperial  Government. 
They  were  too  few  and  too  insignificant.  Nor  is  it  unlikely  that  this  poor, 
impoverished  remnant,  in  spite  of  their  exclusive  religion,  were  looked  on  often 


16(i  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

It  was  tliis  stern,  rigid  refusal  of  the  Christian  to  share 
in  the  common  toleration  of  religions  which  excited  the 
bitter  wrath  of  all  the  Pagan  world ;  it  was  this  which 
united  all  the  Pagan  religions  against  him.  He  was 
the  common  enemy  of  them  all,  tmd  to  crush  him,  to 
destroy  him  and  his  exclusive  faith,  was  the  aim  of  every 
serious  Pagan.  Thus  the  restless  persecution  of  the  Christian 
by  the  votaries  of  all  the  Pagan  religions  in  every  portion 
of  the  world  of  Rome  during  the  tirst  three  centuries  is 
largely  accounted  for. 

It  was  indeed  a  war  to  the  death,  and  the  history  of 
early  Christianity  chronicles  the  events  of  that  long,  weary 
conflict  and  its  result. 

SECTION    VI. — THE   PHILOSOPHERS    AND   THE   PAGAN   REVIVAL. 

The  higher  teaching  in  Rome  between  the  days  of  Augustus 
and  the  days  of  Marcus  and  his  son,  roughly  the  period 
included  in  the  tirst  and  second  centuries,  is  well  exemplified 
in  the  works  we  possess  of  the  later  Stoic  philosophers.  We 
shall  only  bo  able  to  touch  on  the  fringes  of  this  study, 
and  we  simply  propose  to  give  a  fcAv  references  to  the 
words  of  two  of  the  most  distinguished  of  these  teachers, 
Seneca  and  Epictetus.  Yet  even  these  brief  references 
will  give  us  some  insight  into  the  attitude  of  Paganism 
on  the  side  of  philosophic  teaching,  in  the  period  of  its 
mortal  struggle  with  Christianity. 

Seneca  was  the  tutor  and  for  a  time  the  adviser  of  the 
Emperor  Nero ;  his  death  is  dated  a.d.  65.  Epictetus  taught 
somewhat  later,  during  the  reigns  of  Domitian  and  Trajan — 
some  placing  his  death  as  late  as  the  reign  of  Hadrian.  At 
all  events,  ho  lived  well  into  the  second  century.  Marcus,  the 
Emperor  and  philosopher,  who  in  some  ways  may  be  looked 

even  with  fuvLiir,  on  account  of  the  services  they  not  unfreqiiently  rendered,  as 
informers  and  .spies,  against  the  feared  and  hated  Christians;  as,  for  instance,  in  the 
niartyrdoin  of  Polycarp  at  Smyrna.  Then,  tuo,  it  must  not  be  overlooked  thai  the 
,>c\vi.sh  leligion  was  never  aggressi%'e.  It  rarely  sought  for  proselytes.  \'ery 
ditierant  was  Cliristianity ;  auioug  the  worshippers  of  Jesus,  every  one  uioie  or  less. 
was  a  iir's'-^ionary,  an  active  and  earnest  proselytiser. 


THE    REVIVAL    OF  PAGANISM.  167 

upon  as  the  pupil  of  the  great  teachers  of  this  late  Stoic 
school,  whose  words  and  "  Meditations  "  we  have  already  touched 
upon,  carries  us  on  to  181,  the  year  of  his  death. 

We  have  dwelt  on  the  great  change  which  undoubtedly 
pasi^ed  over  Paganism  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  and  the  two 
following  centuries,  and  on  the  striking  differenee  between  the 
withering  scepticism  of  the  age  of  Julius  Caesar  and  the 
superstitious  devotion  which  so  largely  characterised  the  days 
of  Marcus.  By  this  strong  current  of  devotion,  so  to  speak, 
the  philosopher  teachers  were  largely  influenced;  and  their 
teaching  in  turn  helped,  especially  among  the  higher  ranks 
of  society,  to  make  Paganism  in  the  epoch  of  its  fierce  struggle 
with  Christianity  something  of  a  reality. 

Their  eiforts  were  largely  directed  to  reforming  the  popular 
religion,  and  in  some  way  bringing  men's  minds  to  the  belief 
in  the  unity  of  God.  They  would  persuade  men  that  the  many 
names  under  which  the  supreme  deity  was  adored  in  different 
lands  only  represented  one  Almighty  power.  It  is  doubtful, 
however,  if  this  higher  teaching  ever  really  penetrated  the 
masses  of  the  people ;  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  tho 
vast  majority  of  ordinary  folk,  until  the  day  of  the  final  victory 
of  Christianity,  continued  to  understand  and  to  practise  religion 
in  the  old  way,  worshipping  Minerva  and  Yenus,  Vesta  and 
Juno,  Mars  and  Esculapius,  as  deities  especially  connected  with 
and  disposing  the  issues  of  the  home  and  the  hearth,  of  peace 
and  war,  of  sickness  and  health,  much  as  their  ancestors  had 
done.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that  an  effort  to  teach  men  the 
grand  Unity  of  God,  worshipped  under  whatever  different 
names  and  sjnnbols,  was  made  in  the  schools  of  the  great 
philosophic  teachers  of  the  first,  second,  and  third  centuries ; 
helping  to  give,  among  the  more  thoughtful  at  all  events,  a 
renewed  reality  to  a  rehgion  which  had  well-nigh,  if  not 
entirely,  lost  its  power  over  the  hearts  of  cultured  people.* 

*  "  Under  different  names  we  adore  the  One  God  ^\^lose  eteinal  power  givea 
life  to  all,  and  in  adoring  this  Divinity  under  its  several  attributes  we  adore 
the  One  Eternal  Power.  Wo  invc.ke,  through  the  mediation  of  the  lower  Gods, 
the  Father  of  Gods  and  men,  and  thus  in  various  forms  of  religion  the  same  God 
worshiijped  by  all  men  of  different  nationiJities."  So  wrote  Maximus  of 
Madanra  to  S.  Augustine  {S.  Aug.  Epinf.   16). 


168  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Thus  the  philosopher,  the  thought-leader  and  teacher  in 
Rome,  the  statesman  who  ruled  Rome,  the  patriot  who  loved 
Rome  with  a  great  passion,  for  different  reasons  and  in  different 
ways  set  themselves  to  restore — we  might  say  to  reform — the 
fast  dying  religion  of  Paganism  ;  and  they  were  partly  success- 
ful. They  breathed  into  its  wild  legends  a  new  life  by  givijig 
them  a  new  meaning;  they  prolonged  its  existence  for  well- 
nigh  three  hundred  years ;  they  gave  it  vitality  and  power  to 
contend  with  Christianity  all  through  that  period  of  struggle, 
and  although  in  the  long  run  they  were  defeated,  and  in  the 
end  the  cause  for  which  they  struggled  was  utterly  and  for 
ever  ruined  as  far  as  the  Roman  Empire  was  concerned,  the 
contest  was  a  long  and  painful  one,  and  for  a  time,  as  far  as 
men  could  see,  the  issue  hung  in  the  balance.  The  long  battle 
between  Christianity  and  Paganism  eventuated  in  a  complete 
victory  for  Christianity,  because  the  conflict  was  between  truth 
and  falsehood,  and  in  the  long  run  truth  will  ever  be  victorious 
on  earth  as  in  Heaven. 

It  is  the  fashion  to  describe  the  great  contest  between 
Paganism  and  Christianity  as  a  combat  between  evil  and  good, 
as  a  struggle  of  darkness  against  light.  Such  a  general 
presentment  may  on  the  w^hole  be  accurate,  but  it  is  easy  U) 
exaoforerate.  It  is  too  alluring  a  task  for  the  Christian  historian 
and  apologist  in  his  desire  to  magnify  the  final  victory  of  the 
cause  he  justly  loves,  to  underrate  the  efforts  made  by  earnest, 
serious  men  brought  up  in  the  atmosphere  of  Paganism,  and 
living  all  their  lives  amidst  its  associations,  to  raise  the  brother- 
hood of  man  to  a  higher  and  purer  level  That  eminent  and 
devout  teacher,  Augustine,  acknowledges  the  noble  efforts  of 
the  philosophers  of  the  earlier  Empire  when  he  writes  that 
"  Christianity  has  found  the  only  way  which  leads  to  the  land 
of  peace,  but  the  philosopher  had  seen  that  blessed  land  from 
afar,  and  had  saluted  it." 

Now  the  great  teachers  of  philosophy,  in  their  efforts  to 
reform  the  old  religion,  were  not  content  Avith  endeavouring 
to  inspire  their  disciples  with  a  loftier,  nobler,  and  truer 
conception  of  the  Divinity  worshipped  under  so  many  and 
often  such  grotesque    forms,   but   they   pressed   home   besides 


TEE    REVIVAL    OF   PAGANISM.  169 

in  their  teaching  a  higher  and  purer  morality,  a  morality 
indeed  so  exalted  that  many  have  supposed  that  they  learned 
it  from  the  life  or  from  the  Avritings  of  Christians. 

To  quote  a  few  examples  of  their  moral  teaching:  Seneca^ 
(circa  a.d.  50-60)  has  something  very  beautiful  to  say  of 
the  charity  or  love  which  is  so  distinguishing  a  feature 
in  Christian  practice.  The  Pagan  master  would  have  his 
disciples  console  and  lighten  the  sufferings  of  others  by  that 
true  sympathy  which  is  often  more  efficacious  than  mere 
u^ifts.  He  would  have  them  tender  and  irentle  even  to 
sinners,  even  to  their  enemies.  He  charges  them  to  be 
generous  to  the  poor  and  needy ;  he  teaches  that  the  son 
should  be  ransomed  and  restored  to  the  mother,  that  the 
slave  and  the  gladiator  should  be  if  possible  redeemed,  that 
the  holy  rites  of  sepulture,  so  precious  a  privilege  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Roman  world,  should  not  be  denied  even  to  the 
remams  of  a  criminal.  He  would  have  his  disciples  live 
among  their  fellows,  as  though  God  were  ever  present  and 
looking  on,  God  who  was  ever  with  men,  at  once  their 
protector  and  friend. 

Very  subHme  mdeed  appears  to  have  been  Seneca's  con- 
ception of  God,  who  must  not  only  be  worshipped  by  men, 
but  must  be  loved  by  them  ("  colitur  et  amatur ").  Bitterly 
he  inveighed  against  the  popular  Epicurean  notion  that  God 
or  the  Qfods  were  inditferent  to  us  and  careless  of  our  woes. 
Surely,  he  writes,  one  who  could  teach  this,  was  deaf  to  all 
the  voices  or  prayers  ever  going  up,  was  blind  to  the  hands 
clasped  in  supplication  in  every  part  of  the  world  !  f 

*  In  this  necessarily  trief  study  we  have  only  cited  from  Seneca  and 
Epictetus;  but  these  were  only  two  of  the  masters  who  taught  in  this  age  in 
the  Roman  school  of  philosophy.  They  are  the  two  best  known,  but  it  would 
be  a  mistake  to  suppose  they  stood  alone.  They  are  conspicuous  and  illustrious 
examples  of  their  school,  nothing  more. 

t  The  teaching  of  Seneca  was  no  doubt  immeasurably  superior  to  any- 
thing which  had  hitherto  proceeded  from  the  older  philosophic  schools.  Xow. 
had  he  learned  it  from  Christian  teachers  ?  TertuUian  (circa  a.d.  200)  would 
eeem  to  suspect  this  when  he  writes,  "  Seneca  is  often  one  of  us  "  (Seneca  saepe 
noster).  It  has  been  argued  that  Seneca  could  scarcely  have  known  S.  Paul 
in  the  flesh,  as  S.  Paul's  visits  to  Rome  were  subsequent  to  the  date  of  Seneca's 
writings.     But  there  is  little  doubt  that  as  far  as  dates  are  concerned  he  might 


170  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Some,  indeed,  of  the  conceptions  of  the  Deity  are  most 
striking ;  it  would  seem  as  though  the  Pagan  philosopher 
was  a  student  of  the  Hebrew  prophet  Isaiah,  when  he  teaches 
that  the  gods  ask  not  at  our  hands  the  sacrifices  of  oxen, 
or  the  offerings  of  gold  and  silver  for  their  temples,  or  for 
money  contributions  to  be  poured  into  their  treasuries ;  what 
they  require  from  us  is  the  offering  of  a  heart  at  once  devout 
and  just.  The  immortals  need  no  lofty  buildings  of  stone, 
storey  reared  on  storey  ;  what  is  required  by  them  of  man  is 
that  he  should  build  them  an  unseen  sanctuary  in   his  heart. 

Little  heed,  however,  was  paid  to  such  lofty  and  purely 
spiritual  ideas  of  worship  by  the  Pagan  peoples  who  in- 
habited the  broad  Roman  Empire ;  and  even  such  earnest 
and  devout  disciples  of  philosophy  as  the  Emperor  Marcus 
were  little  moved  by  such  noble  conceptions,  though  they 
emanated  from  the  greatest  of  the  Stoic  masters.  It  was 
Marcus  who  thought,  in  the  course  of  his  campaign  on  the 
Danube,  to  propitiate  the  favour  of  the  immortals  by  throw- 
ing two  lions  into  the  great  river !  It  was  the  same  pious 
and  devoted  servitor  of  the  gods  who,  before  the  expedition 
against  the  Marcomanni,  brought  out  and  exposed  the  images 
of  the  gods  for  seven  daj^s  in  Rome  in  accordance  with  an 
ancient  Pagan  custom  ;  and  on  that  occasion,  too,  vowed  to 
sacrifice,  in  the  event  of  the  war  being  successful,  such  in- 
numerable beasts,  that  the  famous  epigram  recorded  by 
Ammianus    Marcellinus   was   written :    "  The    white    oxen    to 


have  met  S.  Peter,  who  we  believe  probably  lived  and  taught  in  Eome,  while 
Seneca  was  in  power,  many  years  before  S.  Paul  came  to  the  capital.  But 
without  jf;er40«a%  coming  in  contact  with  any  great  Christian  teacher  such 
as  Peter  or  Paul,  the  echo  of  their  voices,  perhaps  some  of  their  writings  even, 
might  have  reached  the  philosopher.  The  Christian  community  of  Rome,  although 
it  was  pointedly  ignored  by  so  many  of  the  earlier  writers  of  the  Empire,  must 
have  been  well  known  and  carefully  watched  by  the  Government.  Nero's 
selection  of  the  '•  ISect "  as  the  object  of  his  infamous  accusation  on  the  occasion 
of  the  burning  of  Eome  tells  us  this.  It  seems  to  be  beyond  dispute  that 
Christian  teaching  more  or  less  affected  and  coloured,  if  it  did  uofc  do  more, 
many  of  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  the  later  Stoic  school  of  philosophy 
from  and  after  the  middle  of  the  first  century.  Jerom.e  even  refers  to  letters 
which  passed  between  Paul  and  Seneca.  The  letters,  however,  in  question  are 
unJoubtedly  forgeries. 


THB    REVIVAL    OF  PAGANISM.  171 

j\rarcus  Ca?sar,  hail !  Alas,  if  you  retum  a  conqueror  we  shall 
all  die ! " 

But  while  so  many  of  Seneca's  beautiful  words  possess 
the  aroma  of  evangelical  teaching,  v/e  often  come  upon  some 
sentence,  ^some  reflection,  which  tells  us  that  the  writer,  al- 
though perhaps  inspired  not  unfrequently  by  some  divine 
thought  whose  source  must  be  sought  and  found  in  the 
words  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity,  or  of  some  one  of  His 
disciples,  yet  lived  in  a  very  different  atmosphere  from  that 
breathed  in  the  communities  of  Christians;  as,  for  instance, 
when  the  Pagan  master  speaks  of  the  lofty  platform  occupied 
by  one  who  in  good  earnest  is  virtuous  after  his  exalted 
pattern.  Such  a  one,  he  argues,  draws  near  the  gods  and 
becomes  their  equal  *  ("  cum  dis  ex  pari  vivit") — and  even  in 
certain  respects  is  the  superior  of  the  god  (Jupiter).t  Very 
different  indeed  would  have  been  the  estimate  of  his  life, 
made  b)'-  a  holy  and  humble  man  of  heart  who  formed  one 
among  the  congregation  of  a  Peter  or  of  a  Clement ! 

Very  striking,  again,  are  many  of  the  thoughts  on  religion 
of  EpictetiLs,  who  carries  on  the  tradition  of  the  teaching  of 
the  philosophic  reformers  of  Paganism  into  the  next  genera- 
tion, when  Trajan  was  on  the  throne ;  perhaps  even  as  late 
as  the  days  of  Hadrian,  well  on  in  the  second  century.  Epic- 
tetus  would  have  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  pray  to  the 
great  God.  "  As  for  me,  I  am  orrowinq-  old,"  said  the  saq-e, 
''  v/hat  can  I  do  better  than  praise  God  ?  I  must  do  this,  I 
would  have  all  join  mo  here.  I  would  say  to  Jupiter, j  'Do 
with  me  what  thou  wiliest.  Take  me  where  thou  please.5t,  I 
am  thine,  I  belong  wholly  to  thee.'"  Very  touchingiy,  in 
words  which  might  well  have  been  used  in  a  chapel  or 
oratory  of  the  Christians,  Epictetus  thus  talks  of  prayer  to 
the  Supreme  Almighty  Immortal.  "  Shut  your  door ;  and, 
in  the  solitude  of  your  chamber,  think  not  that  you  are 
alone ;    you     are    not  —because   God    is   with    you."      "  Lord," 

*  Compare  Eplat.  59,  H. 
t  Compare  Epist.  53,  11 — I)e  provid.  6,  6. 

+  Jupiter  was  ever  a  favourite  deity  among  the  Eomans ;  to  him  a  supremacy 
SQoms  always  willingly  to  have  been  accorded. 


172  EAELY    GHBISTIANITY   AI^D    PAGANISM. 

pleaded  Epictetus,  "  have  I  ever  complained  of  Thy  dealings 
with  me,  or  found  fault  with  Thy  Providence  ?  I  have  been 
sick    because    it   was    Thy   will,   I   have    been    poor,   ay,   and 

joyfully,  because  Thou  didst  will  it AVouldst   Thou  have 

me  go  hence  to-day  from  this  glorious  world,  I  go  hence 
willingly ;  I  thank  Thee  for  suffering  me  to  be  with  Thee,  that 
I  am  able  to  gaze  at  Thy  works,  and  that  I  have  had  power 
to  grasp  someAvhat  of  the  meaning  of  Thy  government." 

Thus  these  philosophers  who  taught  in  Rome  from  the 
days  of  Augustus  to  the  days  of  Marcus  and  his  son,  en- 
deavoured to  lead  their  disciples  to  pray,  to  pour  out  their 
hearts  to  the  supreme  God.  The  Emperor  Marcus  Aurehus 
Antoninus,  a.d.  161-80,  was  their  faithful  disciple,  and  will- 
ingly, and  from  his  heart  served  the  immortals;  carrying, 
indeed,  his  religious  service  often  to  the  verge  of  immoderate 
superstition. 

To  sum  up.  There  was  much  in  the  moral  teaching  of 
those  masters  of  the  Stoic  philosophy  of  the  first  and  second 
centuries  which  resembled  the  precepts  of  Christianity. 
There  was  emphatically  scmiething  in  their  teaching  loftier, 
purer,  more  real  than  had  ever  appeared  before  in  the  teach- 
ing of  any  Pagan  philosophic  schools.  It  is  at  least  highly 
probable  that  some  echoes  of\  the  words  of  Jesus  and  of  His 
disciples,  which  had  been  repeated  again  and  again  in  the 
Christian  communities  of  Rome  and  of  other  great  centres 
of  thought  in  the  Empire,  had  reached  the  ears  of  men  like 
Seneca,  Epictetus,  and  other  masters  of  the  later  Stoic  school, 
had  strongly  influenced  them,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
had  coloured  their  teaching ;  more,  however,  than  this  cannot 
be  said.  Neither  Seneca,  Epictetus,  nor  the  other  philosophers 
of  this  school,  were  Christians,  or  even  in  any  sense  could 
be  said  to  teach  Christianity.  No  Christian  dogma  in  any 
form  ever  appears  in  their  words.  If  they  were  acquainted 
with  Christian  doctrines,  they  rejected  them  apparently  with- 
out examination.  Marcus,  the  Emperor,  their  most  illustrious 
disciple,  evidently  might  have  had  before  him  such  writings 
as  the  "  Apologies  "  of  Justin.  It  is  more  than  doubtful  if  he 
ever  read  them.     He  disliked  the  Christians,  as  we  have  seen. 


THE    REVIVAL    OF   PAGANISM.  173 

with  an  intense  dislike  ;  and  even  liis  sense  of  justice  was  not 
sutKcient  to  induce  him  to  treat  the  sect  with  common  fair- 
ness. In  his  eyes  the  followers  of  Jesus  were,  for  reasons 
upon  which  we  have  briefly  dwelt,  a  positive  danger  to  the 
Empire.  And  the  attitude  of  Marcus  was  no  doubt  more  or 
less  the  attitude  of  the  masters  of  that  great  philosophic 
school  of  the  later  Stoics  of  which  he  was  so  distinguished  a 
disciple. 

We  hear  little  of  this  school  of  philosophers  after  the 
passing  away  of  the  renowned  Emperor  in  a.d.  ISl.'^  Various 
causes  were  at  work  which  explain  this  rapid  waning  of  its 
power  and  influence.  In  the  reign  of  Marcus  it  had  reached 
the  highest  point  it  ever  touched.  The  great  Emperor  was 
a  faithful  disciple,  and  his  advisers,  and  the  men  whom  he 
chose  for  the  various  administrative  posts  throughout  his 
vast  Empire,  were  largely  selected  out  of  the  ranks  of  its 
best  known  professors  and  followers.  But  after  the  extinction 
of  the  House  of  the  Antonines  in  a.d.  193,  the  influence  of 
Stoicism  very  rapidly  waned. 

One  obvious  reason  was  no  doubt  its  failure  to  commend 
itself  to  the  mass  of  the  people.  Cicero,  somewhat  before  the 
rise  of  the  new  Stoics,  tells  us  of  the  general  unpopularity 
of  philosophy  with  the  nuiltitude.  It  never  found  the  key 
to  the  hearts  of  the  people.  The  Stoic  philosophy  appealed, 
and  often  with  power,  to  man}-  of  the  cultured  and  the 
thoughtful  among  the  upper  classes  of  Roman  society,  but  it 
never  penetrated  into  the  deep  stratum  which  laj^  beneath 
this  comparatively  small  section  of  the  citizens  of  Rome. 
For  instance,  Marcus,  the  Emperor,  the  greatest  and  most 
influential  of  the  disciples  of  the  latei*  Stoic  j^hilosophers, 
failed  completely  to  induce  his  people  to  second  his  noble 
and  earnest  efibrts  to  do  away  with  the  sanguinary  and 
demoralising  games  of  the  amphitheatre.  They  could  not 
or  would  not  understand  him. 

*  The  philosophic  teachers  of  the  age,  of  which  we  are  writing,  by  no  means 
all  belonged  to  the  later  Stoics.  There  were  in  Rome,  and  in  a  much  less  degree 
in  other  great  cities,  other  schools  of  philosophic  teaching.  But  the  Stoics 
were  indisputably  by  far  the  most  prominent,  both  in  the  number  of  their  adherent* 
and  in  the  great  influence  which  they  exercised. 


174  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

The  lofty  morality,  the  high  and  severe  life  recommended 
by  such  teachers  as  Seneca  and  Epictetns,  was  utterly  un- 
pleasing,  perhaps  incomprehensible,  to  the  pleasure-loving, 
thoughtless,  careless  multitude.  Such  teaching,  often  beauti- 
ful and  true,  though  somewhat  cold  and  severe,  needed  some- 
thing more  to  commend  itself  to  the  people  generally  than 
the  eloquent  words  of  the  Stoic  teacher,  or  even  the  high 
example  of  a  Stoic  Emperor.  That  something  existed 
among  the  Christians,  but  was  utterly  wanting  outside  their 
circle. 

Then  again,  the  philosophic  teaching  of  Seneca,  Epictetus, 
and  the  other  later  Stoic  masters,  powerful  and  seemingly 
heart-searchinsf  though  it  often  was,  made  little  or  no  effort 
to  reach  the  poor  and  humble  dwellings  of  the  struggling 
trader,  or,  lower  still,  the  crowded  and  squalid  homes  of  tho 
artisans ;  still  less  did  it  care  to  speak  to  the  slave,  though 
one  of  its  great  exponents  was  a  slave  himself.  Its  precepts 
were  admirable;  its  doctors,  as  we  have  seen,  now  and 
again  vied  even  with  the  Christian  teachers  in  their  earnest 
desire  to  persuade  the  disciples  of  their  school  that  all  men 
were  brothers,  and  that  all  alike  were  deserving  of  pity,  help 
and  comfort ;  but  they  went  no  further.  They  spoke  to  a 
select  few  only.  Their  words  were  rarely  heard  beyond  the 
walls  of  their  lecture  halls.  They  could  talk  beautifully  oj 
the  poor,  the  slave,  and  that  great  army  of  suft'erers  who 
make  up  the  rank  and  file  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  great  city 
such  as  Rome ;  but  they  never  spoke  to  these — the  poor,  the 
slave,  and  the  sufferer. 

Strangely  difterent  indeed  was  the  way  of  working  adopted 
by  the  teachers  of  that  widespread  sect,  the  unresting  opponents 
of  Stoic  Pagan  philosophy. 

Unweariedly  the  teachers  of  Christianity  pursued  their 
propaganda ;  they  had  no  public  lecture  halls,  the  scenes  of 
their  instruction  were  the  frequent  religious  meetings  of 
believers  and  enquirers — meetings  held  in  poor  upper  rooms 
belonging  to  artisans  and  little  traders ;  in  chapels  attached 
to  the  houses  of  the  great  and  powerful ;  in  crypts  or  catacombs, 
where    slept    the    loved    dead   of    the    Christian    community. 


TEE    REVIVAL    OF   PAGANISM.  175 

The  message  was  never  silent;  it  was  spoken  with  equal  fer- 
vour to  the  patrician  and  the  slave.  It  recognised  no  ranlv,  it 
cared  little  for  human  culture.  Indeed,  it  especially  sought 
for  the  outcast,  the  humble,  the  unlearned.  Never  before  had 
any  religious  teachers  taken  pains  and  trouble  to  seek  out  the 
poor,  undistinguished,  down-trodden  folk,  but  strange  to  say 
it  was  among  such  that  Christianity  chose  especially  to  deliver 
its  beautiful,  life-giving,  true  message. 

And  it  was  rewarded.  The  ceaseless  propaganda  among 
the  poor  and  the  despised — going  on  as  it  did  year  after  year 
in  city  and  in  countr}^,  in  many  lands  and  among  many 
nations,  a  propaganda  carried  on  too,  for  the  most  part,  amidst 
circu instances  of  grave  danger  and  ever-present  peril  to  the 
unwearied  teachers — touched  the  hearts  of  the  people ;  and 
the  disciples  of  the  new  faith  were,  as  the  second  century 
grew  old,  counted  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands. 

Still,  though  we  recognise  its  especial  weakness,  its  im- 
potence among  the  masses,  we  must  not  underrate  the 
assistance  which  the  philosophy  of  the  later  Stoics  rendered 
to  Paganism  in  its  hour  of  need.  It  was  a  real  help,  but  it 
only  helped  it  among  the  cultured  classes.  It  did  nothing 
to  popularise  it  among  the  masses  of  the  people.  Other 
influences  than  philosophy  were  at  work  which  attached  the 
people  to  the  old  Pagan  religion,  which  kept  them  in  vast 
numbers  faithful  to  the  old  gods,  and  to  the  old  idol  ritual 
practised  in  the  stately  temples  where  their  forefathers  had 
worshipped.  We  have  dwelt  on  some  of  these  influences 
alread}'-  at  some  length — influences  which  put  off  for  a  long 
period  the  final  ruin  of  Paganism.* 

*  Another  influence,  that  of  Porphyry  and  the  teachers  of  the  Neo-PIatonic 
school  in  the  second  half  of  the  third  and  the  earlier  years  of  the  fourth  century, 
is  touched  upon  later  (pp.  409,  410). 


176 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE   CHRISTIANS    UNDER   THE    ANTONINES,    A.D.    138   TO    A.D.    180. 

In  the  reigns  of  the  Antonines,  Pius  and  Marcus,  who  followed 
Hadrian,  a.d.  138  to  a.d.  180,  despite  the  generally  wise  and 
beneficial  administration  of  these  two  princes,  who  justly  are 
deemed  the  noblest  and  best  of  the  early  Une  of  Emperors,  the 
situation  of  the  Christian  communities  in  the  midst  of  the 
Pagan  population  of  the  Empire  greAv  gi-adually  more  precarious. 
The  dangers  to  which  they  were  exposed  increased  in  number, 
while  the  safeguards,  which  the  wisdom  and  understanding  of 
rulers  like  Trajan,  and  Hadrian  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  reign, 
had  provided  against  popular  clamour,  were  often  more  or  less 
disregarded  or  evaded. 

Outwardly,  at  all  events,  the  spirit  of  the  rescript  of  Hadrian 
coloured  the  letters  addressed  by  Antoninus  Pius  to  several 
of  the  Greek  cities  in  the  provinces  of  Achaia  and  Macedonia; 
wherein  he  gave  orders  that  mere  noisy  clamour  on  the  part 
of  the  people  should  not  be  counted  as  a  formal  accusation  of 
the  Christians  to  be  taken  official  account  of  by  the  governor. 
Letters,  too,  bearing  on  the  same  points  were  sent  to  Athens 
and  the  Greek  cities  in  general. 

A  good  example  of  the  effect  of  illegal  popular  clamour  in 
the  case  of  accused  Christians  occurs  in  the  history  of  the 
martyrdom  of  Polycarp,  aheady  related  in  the  sketch  of  the 
great  Bishop's  career,  which  took  place  in  a.d.  155,  when 
Antoninus  Pius  was  reigning.  We  read  that  the  proconsul 
wished  to  give  the  accused  Bishop  a  fuller  hearing  and  a 
formal  trial,  but  that  the  tumult  and  shouting  of  the  populace 
induced  him  to  sanction  immediate  execution. 

There  appear  to  have  been  in  the  reign  of  Pius  many  ot 


P.'wto  :  Aliiiari  &  Cook,  Rome 


MARCUS    AURELIUS 

Statue  ill  the  Piazza  del  Caiupidoglio,  Rome. 


THE    GHBISTIANS    UNDER    THE    ANTONINES.         177 

these  popular  outbursts  of  feeling  in  Greek  cities  against  the 
Christians.  This  points  clearly  to  the  gradual  revival  of 
Paganism,  which  was  so  prominent  a  feature  in  the  reign  of 
Marcus,  who  followed  Pius  on  the  throne. 

Althoufifh  the  Antonines  made  no  ostensible  alteration   in 
the  policy  laid  down  by  their  predecessors   on   the  questions 
connected  with  the  relations  of  Christianity  and  the  Empire, 
3^et,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Imperial  rescripts  were  of  so  general 
a  nature  that  they  could  be  interpreted  in  a  sense  favourable 
or   unfavourable   to   the    religionists    to    whom    they   referred, 
according    to    the   disposition    of    the   particular   governor;   in 
which   no   doubt   the   supposed   bias,   favourable   or   otherwise 
towards  the  Christian  communities,  of  the  all-powerful  reigning 
Emperor  at  Rome,  would  be  an  important  factor,     The  pro- 
consul was  certainly  likely  to  shape  his  policy  closely  on  the 
lines  which  he  judged  would  be   acceptable   to  the  Emperor. 
Now  the  feeling  of  the  Antonines  Avas  never  favourable  to  the 
OTowinof  sect,  and  it  became  more  hostile  as  time  advanced.     The 
policy  of  Antoninus  Pius  may  be  said  to  have  been  generall}' 
indifferent,  but  the  indifference  gradually  shaded  into  dislike 
into  a  fixed  idea  that  Christianity  was  un-Roman  ;  and  in  the 
Emperor  Marcus  this  idea  became  more  and  more  pronounced. 
The  love  of  justice,  the  hatred  of  all  oppression  and  tyranny, 
which  so  strongly  characterised  the  rule  of  the  Antonines,  to 
some    extent    shielded     these    quiet    and    scrupulously    loyal 
sectaries    from    all    open    cruelty    and    high-handed    acts    of 
oppression ;    but   the   evident   dislike   of  the  great   Emperors, 
especially  of  Marcus,  and   their  evident   mistrust   of  the   aim 
and  object  of  Christianity,  made  the  profession  of  the  Faith 
in  their  reigns  very  burdensome,  often  very  dangerous.     Hence 
the  roll  of  martyrs  in  Rome  and  the  provinces  became  longer 
and  longer  in  the  times  of  the  two  noblest  and  most  upright 
of  the  Emperors, 

Among  the  early  Christian  writings  that  we  possess  in  their 
entirety,  the  first  "  Apology  "  of  Justin,  presented  to  Antoninus 
Pius  circa  a.d.  145-50,  holds  a  conspicuous  place.  It  is  the  work 
of  a  scholar  and  thinker,  a  man  versed  in  all  the  learning-  of 
his  day  and  time,  who  had  embraced  Christianity  only  when 

M 


178  EABLY    dlRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

he  was,  comparatively  speaking,  well  advanced  in  life,  and  bad 
already  carefully  examined  the  j^^incipal  cults  practised  by 
the  various  peoples  inhabiting  the  vast  Roman  Empire.  The 
first  "Apology"  of  Justin  was  addressed  to  Antoninus  Pius, 
when  that  sovereign  had  been  reigning  some  few  years.  In 
the  course  of  his  elaborate  and  deeply  interesting  plea  for  the 
one  proscribed  religion,  the  writer,  among  other  pomts,  presses 
upon  the  Emperor  the  wonderful  loyalty  to  constituted 
authority  always  shown  by  the  persecuted  sect.  They  never 
hesitated,  for  instance,  to  pay  at  once  the  Imperial  taxes.  The 
only  liberty  they  claimed  was  the  liberty  of  conscience  which 
bade  them  adore  one  God.  In  everything  else  they  were  ready 
to  obey  with  joy.  They  recognised  the  royalty  and  supremacy 
of  Rome,  and  were  in  the  habit  of  praying  that  Divine  help 
might  be  given  to  the  Sovereign.  Justin  pleads,  too,  with 
great  force  that  the  sum  of  Christian  teaching  is  that  nothing- 
escapes  the  eye  of  God,  that  He  sees  and  punishes  eternally 
the  wicked  man,  the  conspirator,  the  self-seeker,  with  a  punish- 
ment exactly  commensurate  with  his  evil  deeds ;  that  the 
same  God,  too,  rewards  the  virtuous  man  in  proportion  to  his 
righteous  works.  Surely  such  teaching  as  this,  he  argues,  is  a 
real  and  substantial  help  to  the  laws  of  a  good  government 
like  that  of  Imperial  Rome,  and  gives  stability  to  society. 

Further,  he  contrasts  the  pure  morals  of  the  Christian  sect 
with  the  disgraceful  examples  set  by  the  Pagan  gods.  He 
indignantly  repudiates  the  scandalous  charges  made  against 
the  Christian  worship,  and  paints  in  a  few  simple  and  eloquent 
sentences  its  most  sacred  portion,  the  solemn  Eucharistic 
service.  Pious,  pure,  peace-loving — surely  Christians  had  the 
right  of  protesting  before  the  Emperor  against  the  crying  in- 
justice of  the  Roman  laws  against  their  religion ;  laws  by  which 
the  bearing  of  the  name  of  Christian  was  proscribed  and  punished 
with  death.  In  their  case  no  inquiry  was  necessary,  whether 
or  not  they  had  committed  crimes.  The  mere  fact  of  their 
being  Christians  was  sufficient  to  condemn  them.  They  were 
judged  and  put  to  death  simply  on  account  of  the  Name  they 
bore,  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  the  mere  renouncement  of 
the  Name  procured  their  immediate  acquittal.     In  the  name 


THE    CHRISTIANS    UNDER    THE   ANTONINES.  179 

of  justice  and  mercy,  he  argued,  let  not  Rome  judge  and  punish 
a  word  or  Name,  but  let  her  judge  and  punish  acts,  if  any  such 
be  found  worthy  of  punishment.  When  a  Christian  is  haled 
before  Rome's  tribunal,  at  once  let  his  life  be  subject  to  a 
rigid  examination,  let  the  court  inquire  carefully  if  he  has 
done  aught  amiss,  but  do  not  let  the  mere  name  of  a  Christian, 
which  embraces  so  much  that  is  beautiful  and  good,  be  imputed 
to  him  as  a  crime.  Let  not  one  who  has  never  injured  any, 
who  is  a  loyal  subject  of  the  Empire,  be  regarded  as  a 
criminal  deserving  of  the  severest  punishment ;  let  the  Christian 
be  given  the  common  privilege  which  the  Roman  law  gives  to 
all  accused  persons.  It  is  surely  monstrous  that  a  special  law 
should  exist  in  the  solitary  case  of  one  only  charged  with 
being  a  Christian. 

It  was  some  years  after  the  presentation  of  his  first 
"Apology"  for  Christianity  that  the  second  of  these  appeals 
that  common  fairness  should  be  shown  to  the  accused 
Christians  was  addressed  to  the  Emperors  (Pius  and 
Marcus)  and  the  Senate.  When  Justin  wrote  his  second 
"  Apology  "  in  or  about  the  last  year  of  the  reign  of  Antoninus 
Pius,  things  looked  very  dark  for  Christianity  throughout 
the  Empire.  The  reigning  Emperor  had  no  sympathy 
with  the  worshippers  of  Jesus,  who  resolutely  stood  aloof 
from  all  the  religions  favoured  and  sanctioned  by  the 
State.  His  adopted  son  and  successor,  Marcus,  was  known 
openly  to  dislike  them,  though  the  reason  has  ever  been  a 
subject  of  wonder  and  inquiiy.  No  new  rescripts  on  the 
Christian  question  had  indeed  been  put  out.  But  the  old 
Imperial  directions,  which  issued  from  the  chanceries  of  Trajan 
and  Hadrian,  were  still  in  force  ;  and  their  vagueness,  which 
left  much  to  the  discretion  of  the  provincial  governor, 
was  now  sadly  inimical  to  Christians,  when  it  was  under- 
stood that  the  Emperor  himself  was  personally  hostile  to 
the  sect.  The  interpretation  now  of  the  old  rescripts  by 
the  provincial  governor  was  apt  to  be  very  different  from 
the  interpretation  of  the  same  Imperial  commands  when 
the  reigning  Emperor  was  known  to  be  opposed  to  per- 
secution  in  any  form,   and  when  men  were  conscious  that  he 


180  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

only  reluctantly  acquiesced  in  extreme  measures  if  the 
fact  of  the  accused  being  a  Christian  were  forced  upon 
the  magistrates  and  officials  of  the  Empire. 

In  the  middle  of  the  second  century  there  was  already 
an  active  propaganda  of  Christianity  carried  on  in  numberless 
families  by  means  of  Christian  slaves,  confidential  servants, 
teachers  of  various  arts  and  accomplishments,  physicians. 
and  others  who  had  access  to  the  inner  life  of  families.  It 
is  an  error  to  suppose  that  Pagan  society  in  the  second 
century  had  to  seek  instruction  in  Christianity  secretly  in 
some  little  chapel  of  a  wealthy  Roman's  house,  or  in  a 
sepulchral  crypt  of  a  dark  and  narrow  catacomb.  That  teach- 
ing and  preaching,  probably  of  a  high  order,  under  the 
charge  of  some  learned  and  devoted  master,  was  constantly 
to  be  found  in  their  most  secret  and  hidden  places,  was  no 
doubt  the  case ;  but  the  propaganda  of  the  Faith  was  by 
no  means  confined  to  these  little  centres.  There  were  few 
families  in  Rome  after  a  time  that  did  not  count  amone' 
their  numbers  one  or  more  Christians.  Often  these  members 
filled  only  humble  positions,  but  their  widespread  influence 
was  incalculable.  Justin,  in  his  second  "Apology,"  as  the 
crown  of  his  argument,  showing  the  great  and  lofty  influence 
of  the  Faith,  gives  us  a  striking  example  of  how  Chris- 
tianity influenced  the  home  life.  A  Roman  citizen  and 
his  wife,  of  the  middle  class  but  evidently  in  good  circum- 
stances, had  been  for  some  time  living  a  disorderly  sinful 
existence ;  a  life  too  common  in  that  age  of  luxury  and 
vice,  when  the  popular  Paganism  was  almost  powerless  as 
a  teacher  of  the  nobler  life,  or  as  an  influence  for  good. 
Through  some  of  those  quiet,  powerful  influences  of  which 
we  have  spoken  the  wife  became  a  Christian,  and  at  once 
her  old  life  became  changed.  Not  so  her  husband.  He 
went  on  in  his  evil  ways,  plunging  even  deeper  into  dis- 
graceful sin,  till  at  length  the  union  became  insupportable 
to  the  wife,  who  applied  for  a  divorce.  Then  the  wicked 
husband,  seeking  for  the  reasons  which  had  influenced  his 
wife,  divined  that  she  had  become  a  Christian.  The  Pagan 
in   that  age,   when   fairly  unprejudiced,   swiftly   appraised   the 


THE    CHRISTIANS    UNDER    THE   AXTONINES.         181 

purifying  influence  of  Christianity.  At  once,  if  any  marked 
change  of  Hfe  was  apparent,  if  any  open  opposition  to 
fashionable  vice  or  sin  vv^as  made,  the  true  cause  was  forth- 
with suspected.  So  it  happened  in  the  case  of  the  couple  of 
Justin's  story ;  the  angry  husband  at  once  pubUcly  charged  his 
wife  with  being  a  Christian.  The  Christian  woman,  through 
interest  or  possibly  bribes,  contrived  to  delay  the  trial.  In 
the  meantime  her  husband,  through  some  outside  per- 
suasion, dropped  the  charge  against  his  wife  ;  and  having 
learned  that  one  Ptolemogus  had  been  the  instrument  of 
her  conversion,  made  him  the  object  of  accusation.  This 
charge  was  pressed,  and  although  no  persecution  was 
raging  and  no  special  desire  just  then  existed  to  hunt  down 
Christians,  Ptolemseus  was  tried  and  sentenced  to  death.  A 
bystander  in  the  court  named  Lucius,  listening  to  the 
Roman  Prefect's  sentence,  appealed  to  the  judge,  asking 
him  how  he  could  condemn  to  death  a  man  convicted  of 
no  crime,  simply  because  he  had  confessed  himself  a  Chris- 
tian— surely  such  a  sentence  was  unworthy  alike  of  a  pious 
Emperor  and  the  sacred  Senate  ?  The  Prefect  deigned  no 
reply  to  the  bold  inquirer  other  than,  "  You,  too,  seem  to 
be  a  Christian."  "  Yes,"  said  Lucius,  "  I  am,"  upon  which 
open  confession  Lucius  too  was  led  to  immediate  capital 
punishment.  A  third  Christian  present  in  the  court,  fired 
by  these  examples,  confessed  his  faith,  and  the  three  died 
together. 

In  the  course  of  an  argument  on  the  strength  of  the 
attachment  of  Christians  to  their  Master  Jesus,  and  on  the 
numbers  and  varieties  found  among  the  martyrs  of  his  day, 
Justin  beautifully  remarks  that  "Socrates  (whom  Marcus 
revered)  never  had  a  disciple  who  was  willing  to  die  for 
him.  Jesus,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a  crowd  of  such  devoted 
witnesses.  Artisans,  men  and  women  drawn  from  the  very 
dregs  of  the  people;  philosophers,  too,  and  cultured  men, 
who  were  all  willing  and  ready  to  die  for  His  doctrine.  The 
power  which  strengthened  these  was  not  from  human 
wisdom.  It  was  the  strength  of  God."  These  martyrs,  to 
whom  Justin  was   specially   alludmg,   belonging    to    all    sorts 


182  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

and  conditions  of  men,  Avon   their   crown,  be  it  remembered, 
in  a  period  of  comparative  stillness. 

The  events  narrated  had  taken  place  in  the  reign  of 
Antoninus  Pius,  when  persecution  was  inactive.  But  when 
Pius  passed  away,  the  nineteen  years  (a.d.  IGl  to  a.d.  180) 
of  the  reign  of  his  successor,  the  noblest  of  the  Pagan 
Emperors,  proved  nevertheless  the  hardest  period  of  trial 
the  followers  of  Jesus  had  as  yet  experienced.  More  Chris- 
tian blood  flowed  under  the  rule  of  the  Imperial  Philosopher, 
whose  "  Thoughts "  or  "  Meditations  "  reveal  apparently  one 
of  the  tenderest  of  consciences,  than  was  shed  in  the  sharp 
but  comparatively  brief  persecutions  of  Nero  and  Domitian, 
or  during  the  long  reigns  of  Trajan,  Hadrian,  and  Antoninus 
Pius. 

A  new  and  harsher  interpretation  was  given  to  the 
Imperial  rescripts  of  Trajan  and  Hadrian,  and  to  the  still 
earlier  precedents  of  Vespasian  and  the  Flavian  princes,  in 
the  difficult  questions  of  procedure  against  accused  Christians. 
No  doubt,  too,  the  spirit  which  prompted  the  government  of 
Marcus  to  persecute,  emanating  as  it  did  from  so  revered 
and  admired  an  Emperor,  not  a  little  influenced  Septimius 
Severus  at  the  close  of  the  century  Avhen  he  issued  his  sterner 
anti  -  Christian  rescripts.  From  the  accession  of  Marcus 
onwards,  whenever  an  Emperor  on  the  throne  was  not 
favourably  inclined  to  the  followers  of  Jesus,  the  persecution 
of  the  Christians  assumed  a  more  general  as  well  as  a  more 
deadly  aspect. 

But  the  effect  of  these  harsher  measures,  the  result  of 
this  bitter  opposition,  was  very  different  from  what  the 
Imperial  Government  contemplated.  The  general  proscrip- 
tion exercised  an  enduring  and  powerful  influence  on  the 
scattered  communities.  It  had  the  effect  of  uniting  the  per- 
secuted and  harassed  Christians  more  and  ever  more  closely 
together,  while  it  never  seriously  diminished  the  number 
of  Christians ;  the  new  converts  being  far  more  numerous 
than  the  martyrs  and  the  "  lapsed."  As  the  years  passed 
on,  the  Church  thus  tried  became  through  adversity  more 
strong,  more  bravely  patient. 


THE    CHFISTIANS    UNDER    TEE    ANTONINES.  183 

Hitherto  we  have  passed  over  all  events,  however  interest- 
ing, connected  with  the  secular  chronicle  of  the  Eoman 
world,  unless  such  events  were  closely  connected  with  the 
history  of  Christianity.  We  have  dismissed  with  only  a  very 
brief  notice  the  careers  of  those  great  men  who  played  the 
part  of  Masters  of  the  World  in  the  first  and  second  cen- 
turies, excepting  so  far  as  their  policy  specially  affected 
Christianity;  as  was  the  case  with  Augustus,  who  may  be 
said  to  have  first  built  up  that  Paganism  which  for  so 
long  made  an  eti'ectual  stand  against  the  religion  of  Jesus, 
and  with  Hadrian,  whose  name  will  be  ever  connected  with 
the  last  great  Jewish  war. 

The  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius,  however,  demands  a  special 
study,  since  his  policy  introduces  a  new  and  specially  un- 
friendly departure  in  the  relations  of  the  Roman  world 
with  the  many  Christian  communities,  which  more  or  less 
affected  Christianity  until  the  hour  of  its  final  triumph 
about  a  century  and  a  half  after  his  accession.''^ 

We  know  much  of  the  inner  life  of  Marcus,  since  we 
possess  a  private  diary  of  his,  revealing  to  us  the  inner- 
most thoughts  which  guided  and  influenced  much  of  his 
public  life.  These  "  Thoughts,"  or  "  Meditations,"  are  private 
memoranda  ,t  written  often  hastil}'',  Avithout  arrangement, 
more  often  in  the  tent  when  he  was  with  his  army  than 
in  the  palace.  As  a  kind  of  commentary  on  this  "  diary " 
we  have  some  charming  letters  addressed  to  him  by  his 
friend  and  teacher  Fronto,  letters  comparatively  recently 
discovered.  The  intense  "  religiousness  "  of  Marcus  is  striking. 
Here,  face  to  face  with  Christianity,  we  have  a  Pagan  who 
apparently  believed  in  the  Roman  gods  rehabilitated  by 
the  pious  calculating  care  of  Augustus.  We  will  give  just 
a  few  extracts  from  Fronto's  correspondence.  The  teacher 
writes   without    fear    to    the    absolute    master   of    the   world. 

*  The  association  of  Verus  in  the  Empire  by  Marcus  hardly  requires  notice. 
He  had  little  or  no  weight  in  determining'  policy,  and  died,  somewhat  opportunely 
for  Uome,  after  some  eight  years  of  joint  rule,  in  a.d.  169. 

t  "  La  sincerite  de  cette  interrogation  solitaire  en  fait  un  des  plus  precieux 
monuments  de  I'antiquite."  Champagny  :  Zes  Anioniiis,  vol.  iii.,  livre  vi., 
ch.  i. 


184  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

"  Be  careful  not  to  play  the  Cassar — do  not  plunge  into  the 
waters  of  Imperial  enticements ;  keep  yourself  simple,  good, 
serious,  the  friend  of  justice,  ready  for  all  duties,  kind.  .  .  . 
Honour  the  gods.  Save  men,  life  is  but  short.  There  is 
but  one  prize  to  be  won  in  our  earthly  career,  to  have 
striven  after  a  holy  aim,  and  to  have  lived  a  life  which  has 
been  useful  to  others.  In  all  things  be  a  follower  of  (your 
adoptive  father)  Antoninus  Pius.  Call  to  mind  his  unresting 
love  of  work,  his  steady  friendships.  Think  of  his  piety, 
never  superstitious"  (there  was,  perhaps,  a  warning  here  of 
a  danger  Fronto  suspected) ;  "  so  order  your  life  that  the 
end  will  find  you  as  it  found  him,  living  in  the  peace  of  a 
good  conscience."  And  again,  "Love  all  men,  yes,  and  from 
your  heart.  Be  patient  with  the  wicked  man,  be  sorry  for 
him.  .  .  .  You  never  can  be  quite  sure  if  something  hidden 
from  you  cannot  be  fairly  urged  as  a  plea  for  his  conduct. 
And  you — are  you  perfectly  pure  yourself?  Even  if  you 
are  free  from  the  faults  and  errors  you  condemn,  is  it  not 
perhaps  from  a  vanity  which  preserves  you  from  them  ? " 

In  Fronto's  advice,  in  Marcus'  "  Thoughts  "  or  "  Meditations," 
there  is  much  that  reminds  us  of  Christianity;  unsuspected 
Christian  influences  are  dimly  perceptible.  Indeed,  there  is 
very  little  in  ancient  philosophy  or  teaching  at  all  com- 
parable to  or  even  resembling  the  lofty  conceptions  which 
we  meet  with  continually  in  these  "  Thoughts "  or  "  Medita- 
tions "  and  correspondence  of  Marcus.  But  everywhere,  in 
"  Meditations "  and  in  letters  alike,  constant  references  to  the 
gods  meet  us  again  and  again.  Yet  the  good  Emperor  had 
no  fixed  belief;  at  times  he  even  seemed  to  doubt  the  very 
existence  of  the  gods  whose  names  were  ever  on  his  lips. 
Longing  intensely  to  believe  in  a  guiding  and  directing 
Power,  he  would  in  his  superstitious  anxiety  even  turn  from 
the  ancient  gods  of  Rome  to  the  Eastern  deities,  with  their 
corrupt  and  corrupting  rites,  with  their  occult  mysteries ; 
sympathising  with  all  religions  save  one.  For  towards 
Christianity  he  was  ever  cold,  ever  hostile:  once  only  he 
alludes  to  it  in  his  "  Meditations,"  and  then  with  accents 
of  petulant   scorn.      It   is   difficult   to   guess   the   reasons    for 


THE    CHRISTIANS    UNDER    THE    ANTONINES.  185 

this  hatred  which  the  great,  earnest,  devout  Emperor  con- 
stantly showed  to  Christianity.  The  only  explanation  possible 
is  that  Marcus  was  trained  in  the  school  of  Roman  statesman- 
ship, which  regarded  Christianity  as  utterly  opposed  to  all 
the  cherished  traditions  of  Roman  government,  which  taught 
that  to  be  a  Christian  and  at  the  same  time  a  Roman  was 
simply  impossible,  that  the  peculiar  and  exclusive  tenets  of 
the  sect  held  them  generally  aloof  from  all  offices  m  which 
they  could  serve  the  State,  and  play  the  part  of  good  citizens ; 
that  they  were  in  fact  as  citizens  d-^pyjaToi  (useless).  It 
does  not  seem  as  though  the  Emperor  ever  took  the  pains 
to  examine  the  principles  of  a  faith  which  he  thoroughly 
distrusted  and  disliked,  or  ever  really  read  a  weighty 
document  like  the  second  "  Apology "  of  Justin  which  was 
addressed  to  the  Emperors,  or  that  he  ever  came  in  contact 
with  any  really  great  Christian  personality,  who  might  have 
influenced  him  at  least  to  give  the  Christian  cause  a  fair 
and  patient  hearing. 

In  spite  of  his  unfeigned  devotion  to  the  gods  of  the  old 
religion,  in  spite  of  his  earnest  piety,  which,  it  is  evident, 
at  times  shaded  into  strange  superstitious  notions,  Marcus 
had  no  definite  views  as  to  the  "hereafter";  he  never  alludes 
to  elaborate  gradations  of  rewards  and  punishments,  such  as 
we  find  in  the  magic  pages  of  Augustus'  poet,  the  loved 
Virgil,  but  dwells  rather  on  the  idea  of  "  rest  in  God "  for 
the  soul,  which,  as  Marcus  understood  it,  seems  to  have 
involved  the  loss  of  all  personal  identity. 

The  modern  traveller — as  he  stands  on  the  Palatine  in 
the  midst  of  the  vast  and  melancholy  ruins  of  the  palaces 
of  the  Caesars,  and  looks  over  the  Roman  Forum  with  its 
immemorial  story,  with  its  now  shapeless  piles  of  mighty 
stones,  dominated  by  a  few  graceful  columns,  by  a  solitar}'- 
arch  or  two,  by  a  fragment  here  and  there  of  a  once  mighty 
wall;  as,  painfully  and  wearily,  he  reconstructs  in  imagination 
the  matchless  group  of  sacred  buildings  once  crowded 
together  in  that  strange  square  or  "  place,"  for  several  cen- 
turies the  centre  of  the  world  and  its  eventful  story — begins 
to    comprehend     something    of    the     feelings    of    a    Marcus 


186  EARLY    GHBJSTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

Aurelius  Antoninus,  who  gazed  day  by  day  on  this  wondrous 
scene,  stiil  in  its  fan*  beauty,  at  the  height  perhaps  of  its 
superb  magnificence.  Those  stately  temples,  with  their 
golden  roofs  gleaming  and  flashing  beneath  the  rays  of  an 
Italian  sun,  were  the  chief  earthly  symbols  of  the  deities 
whom  he  had  been  taught  to  revere,  as  the  gods  of  the  men 
who  had  been  makers  of  the  proud  Empire  over  which  he 
ruled,  as  the  inspirers  of  their  great  deeds,  as  the  Providence 
of  their  fortunes,  as  the  Immortals  who  loved  Rome  with  a 
peculiar  love.  These  gorgeous  fanes  were  the  representative 
sanctuaries  of  such  deities  as  Jupiter  of  the  Capitol,  Mars 
the  Avenger,  Vesta  with  her  sacred  fire,  Venus,  Juno,  Saturn, 
or  the  "  great  Twin  Brethren "  who  fought  for  Rome  in  her 
day  of  trial.  All  that  was  great  and  glorious  in  Rome  had 
sprung — he  had  been  taught — from  the  fact  of  the  mighty 
protection  of  these  venerated  Immortals.  The  past,  the 
present,  the  future  of  the  Empire  was  bound  up  in  their 
cult.  Not  only  Italy,  but  the  whole  of  the  enormous 
Roman  world  in  the  East  and  in  the  West  more  or  less 
acknowledged  their  sovereignty  and  adored  their  changeless 
majesty.  Only  one  strange  sect  stood  aloof  from  the  cos- 
mopolitan crowd  of  worshippers  at  these  awful  shrines,  a 
sect  comparatively  speaking  of  yesterday  —  for  when  his 
great  predecessor  Augustus  reigned  it  existed  not — a  sect 
which  claimed  for  the  Being  it  worshipped  not  toleration 
but  solitary  supremacy.  It  was  verily  an  enormous,  a 
stupendous  claim,  for  it  involved  regarding  the  great  gods 
of  Rome  as  shadows,  as  mere  phantoms  of  the  imagina- 
tion. Well  might  one  like  the  Emperor  Marcus  shudder  at 
a  claim,  at  an  assertion  which  would  seem  to  a  true  patriot 
Roman,  whose  heart  was  all  aflame  with  national  pride,  to 
involve  the  most  daring  impiety,  the  most  shocking  blasphemy, 
the  most  tremendous  risks  for  the  future  of  his  people. 
And  this  sect  of  yesterday,  his  ministers  would  tell  him, 
was  steadily  increasing  not  only  in  Rome,  where  curious 
strange  faiths  abounded,  but  in  all  the  provinces,  in  the 
home-lands  of  Italy,  in  Greece,  in  Syria,  far  aAvay  even  in 
the   Euphrates    valley,   in    Egypt    the    seat   of    mysteries,    in 


TEE    CERISTIANS    UNDER    THE    ANTOXINES.         187 

North  Africa  with  its  wealthy  sea- cities,  in  the  vast  province 
of  prosperous  Gaul.  They  would  tell  him  how  this  hateful 
sect  of  Christians  was  adding  daily  converts  to  its  extra- 
ordinary and  dangerous  belief,  converts  drawn  from  the 
humblest  traders,  from  freedmen  and  slaves — converts 
drawn  too  from  the  noblest  houses  of  Rome,  even  from  the 
families  of  those  patricians  whose  exalted  rank  gave  them 
perpetual  access  to  the  sovereign's  inner  circle.  The  Chris- 
tians, when  Marcus  folloAved  his  adoptive  father  Pius  on  the 
throne,  from  their  great  numbers,  their  unity,  their  organisa- 
tion, had  become  a  real  power  in  the  State,  a  power  with 
which  statesmen  assuredly  would  have  sooner  or  later  to 
reckon,  a  power  which  threatened  every  day  to  grow  more 
formidable. 

And  to  the  patriot  Emperor,  whose  pious  nature  ever 
loved  to  dwell  on  the  unseen  protection  of  the  Immortals, 
in  whom  he  strove  with  intense  earnestness  to  believe,  to 
whom  he  prayed  daily,  hourly,  these  Christians  and  their 
aggressive  uncompromising  belief,  for  which,  strangely  enough, 
they  were  only  too  ready  to  die,  were  abhorrent.  They 
constituted  in  his  eyes  an  ever-present  danger  to  Rome, 
her  institutions,  her  ancient  religion. 

The  Emperors  he  had  followed  on  the  throne,  mighty 
sovereigns  such  as  Yespasian  and  Trajan  and  Hadrian,  noble 
princes,  such  as  was  his  (adoptive)  father  Pius,  had  pronounced 
these  Christians  outlaws,  had  decided  that  the  public  con- 
fession of  Christianity,  without  further  investigation  into  the 
Ufe  of  the  accused,  involved  the  punishment  of  death;  but 
with  the  pronouncement,  these  Emperors  had  in  some  degree 
protected  them  from  prosecution.  In  view  of  the  present 
grave  peril  to  the  State,  its  most  cherished  institutions,  and  its 
ancient  religion,  the  Imperial  policy  must  be  somcAvhat  changed. 
The  old  rescripts  of  Trajan  and  his  successors,  which  declared 
that  the  profession  of  Christianity  incurred  the  penalty  of 
death,  might  remain  unaltered ;  but  the  Imperial  mantle  of 
protection  which  discouraged  all  persecution,  hitherto  spread 
over  the  communities  of  Christians,  must  be  withdrawn. 
Henceforth  the  prosecution  of  Christians  must  not  depend  on 


188  EARLY   GEBI8TIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

some  chance  event  or  information :  these  dangerous  sectaries 
must  be  actively  sought  for,  hunted  down,  and  on  con- 
viction summarily  dealt  with. 

The  following  dry  historical  records  of  contemporary 
writers  referring  to  and  briefly  chronicling  the  persecutions 
of  Christians  specially  active  in  the  days  of  Marcus,  will  be 
the  justification  of  a  portion  at  least  of  the  foregoing  reflections 
on  his  anti- Christian  policy. 

Celsus,  in  his  writing  "The  True  Word,"  circa  a.d. 
177-180,  or  possibly  a  very  few  years  earlier,  but  still  in  the 
same  reign,  speaks  of  Christians  as  being  sought  out  for 
execution.  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis,  circa  a.d.  170-171, 
writes  of  new  edicts  which  directed  that  Christians  were 
to  be  pursued.  For  such  persecution  no  precedent,  he 
stated,  existed.  We  have  already  expressed  the  opinion 
that  no  new  edicts  were  promulgated  by  Marcus  Antoninus, 
but  that  the  old  procedure  was  still  carried  on  in  the  matter 
of  Christian  prosecutions,  only  with  greater  harshness  and 
with  an  evident  bias  against  the  religion  of  Jesus.  The 
"new  decree"  alluded  to  by  Melito  would,  if  this  conclusion 
be  accepted,  signify  fresh  instructions  or  explanations  from 
the  Emperor  rather  than  legislation.  Athenagoras,  circa 
A.D.  177-180,  dwells  on  the  harrying,  robbery,  and  bitter  per- 
secution of  the  Christians.  Following  the  argument  of  Justin 
Martyr,  he  inveighs  against  the  Christian  being  condemned 
simply  because  of  the  "  Name,"  no  further  evidence  of  guilt 
being  required.  Theophilus  of  Antioch,  circa  a.d.  180, 
also  tells  us  that  Christians  were  sought  out  and  hunted 
down  like  dogs. 

"The  Acts  of  Martyrs"  and  records  of  martyrdom  of 
the  period,  some  absolutely  genuine,  others  translations 
from  the  original  iwoces  verbaux,  with  little  or  no  addition, 
speak  to  the  same  efi'ect.  In  the  "Acts  of  S.  Felicitas  and 
her  Sons,"  the  genuineness  of  which  will  be  briefly  discussed 
when  we  come  to  speak  of  some  of  the  martyrdoms  of  the 
reign,  the  anti-Christian  policy  of  Marcus  is  sadly  evident. 
In  the  famous  account  of  the  "  Martyrs  of  Lyons  and  Yienne  " 
in   Gaul  we   read   how    the    Christians    of    the    great    Gallic 


THE    OHBISTIANS    UNDER    THE   ANTONINES.         189 

province  were  sought  out.  A  similar  inference  must  be 
drawn  in  the  case  of  the  martyrdom  of  Justin,  related  in 
the  "  Acta  Justini." 

It  was  this  official  hunting-down,  this  police  seeking-out 
of  Christians,  which  was  the  new  feature  in  the  policy  of  the 
Emperor  Marcus  towards  the  sect.  It  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  ever  practised  in  the  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius, 
and  by  Trajan  and  Hadrian  it  was  explicitly  forbidden,  lest 
the  rescripts  should  be  misunderstood  by  over-zealous  magis- 
trates. The  change  introduced  by  Marcus  Aurelius  was  com- 
plete and  fundamental. 


190 


CHAPTER    IX. 

A     CHAPTER    OF    MARTYRDOMS. 
SECTION   I. — INTRODUCTORY. 

The  martyrdoms  of  the  Christians  of  the  age  of  persecution,  an 
age  which  lasted  roughly  260  to  280  years,  form  an  important 
chapter  in  early  Christian  history  if  we  bear  in  mind  their 
terrible  frequency,  and  remember  how  powerful  an  influence  these 
conspicuous  and  repeated  acts  of  suffering,  even  unto  death, 
had  upon  the  Christian  life  and  character.  It  will  be  worth 
while  to  devote  a  short  space  in  our  history  to  a  somewhat 
detailed  relation  (1)  of  a  typical  trial  in  the  reign  of  Marcus 
Aurelius  which  preceded  the  last  awful  act ;  (2)  of  the  scenes 
which  took  place  in  the  prison  where  these  captives  for  the 
religion  were  held  in  bondage  and  waited  for  the  end ;  and 
(3)  of  the  martyrdom  in  the  public  arena  where  these  brave 
soldiers  of  the  Faith  in  pain  and  agony  passed  to  their 
rest. 

The  scenes  we  have  chosen  for  our  typical  pictures  lay 
in  different  famous  centres  of  the  Empire,  in  Rome,  in 
Carthage,  and  in  Lyons.  The  documents  from  which  we 
have  drawn  the  materials  for  our  accounts  are  contemporary, 
and  in  the  opinion  of  the  great  majority  of  serious  critics 
absolutely  authentic* 

(1)  The  trial  scene  we  have  selected  for  our  example  lay 
in  Rome;  it  was  conducted  by  an  Imperial  functionary  of 
high  rank,  the  Prefect  of  Rome,  and  the  proceedings  were 
read  and  approved  by  the  Emperor  Marcus  himself,  who  after 

*  The  only  one  of  the  three  pieces  of  which  the  authenticity  as  a  contemporary 
record  is  questioned  is  the  JirsL  The  question  of  its  authenticity  is  discussed  below 
at  some  length. 


A  CHAPTER    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  191 

reading  tliem  ratified  the  stern  sentences  of  the  prefect. 
The  date  of  the  trial  in  question  was  circa  a.d.  162.  The 
source  of  the  document  from  which  we  quote  was  evidently 
the  proces  verbal  of  the  trial. 

(2)  The  prison  scene  we  have  depicted  lay  in  Carthage 
the  splendid  and  wealthy  capital  of  the  populous  com- 
mercial province  of  North  Africa.  The  date  of  this  prison 
scene  was  circa  a.d.  202.  We  have  appended  to  this  a 
very  short  account  of  the  martyrdom  v/-hich  followed  the 
scene  in  prison  from  the  recital  of  an  eye-witness,  as  it 
formed  part  of  the  original  document  describing  the  prison  life. 

(3)  The  other  arena  scene,  chosen  as  a  good  example  of  the 
usual  close  of  a  martyrdom,  lay  in  the  flourishing  province 
of  Gaul,  in  the  important  city  of  Lyons.  The  date  of  the 
events  here  narrated  was  circa  a.d.  177,  during  the  reign 
of  the  Emperor  Marcus.  Again  it  is  the  record  of  eye- 
witnesses, who  sent  to  certain  Christian  communities  in 
distant  Asia  J\Iinor  a  faithful  record  of  what  had  been 
endured  for  the  Gospel's  sake  by  their  brethren  in  the 
Faith  in  Lyons,  then  the  chief  city  in  the  populous  Gallic 
provinces  of  the  West.  The  intimate  relations  of  the  Churches 
in  Gaul  with  those  in  Asia  Minor  have  already  been  noticed. 

Thus,  to  sum  up,  the  three  typical  scenes  of  Christian 
martyrdom  are  drawn  from  contemporary  and  authentic 
sources.  They  date  from  a.d.  162  for  the  trial  scene,  for  the 
prison  scene  and  its  sequel  from  a.d.  202,  for  the  arena  scene 
from  A.D.  177.  The  period  of  these  three  events,  chosen  as 
an  example  of  what  was  taking  place  in  many  other  cities, 
is  roughly  the  middle  of  the  280  years  of  our  story. 
Different  great  centres  of  the  Empire  have  been  selected. 
The  trial  was  in  Rome,  the  prison  in  Carthage,  the  arena 
in  Lyons,  thus  illustrating  the  observation  already  made 
that  the  early  scenes  of  persecution  were  common  to  all 
parts  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

.SECTION    II. — A   STATE   TRIAL   OF    ACCUSED    CHRISTIANS    IN   ROME. 

Early  in  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius  modern  scholars 
have  placed   one  of  the  more   famous   scenes   of  martyrdom. 


192  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

For  various  reasons  the  condemnation  and  passion  of  Felicitas 
and  her  sons  have  ever'  been  a  favourite  and  popular  piece 
among  martyrologists ;  these  martyrs  have  been,  out  of  number- 
less similar  instances,  selected  as  special  objects  of  veneration. 
They  occupied  this  position  of  high  esteem  in  the  Church's 
records  certainly  as  far  back  as  the  middle  of  the  fourth 
century,  as  we  shall  presently  see. 

Similar  prosecutions  were  set  on  foot  in  numberless 
centres  of  the  Empire  at  this  period,  A.D.  161-180;  and  as 
this  trial  of  Felicitas  and  her  sons,  persons  of  high  birth, 
took  place  at  Rome,  under  the  very  eye  of  the  Emperor,  it 
will  certainly  serve  as  a  fair  example  of  the  procedure.  Our 
recital  is  based  on  the  Latin  text  of  the  "  Acts  of  S. 
Felicitas,"  which  some  critics*  suppose  to  have  been  based 
on  a  Greek  original  report  of  the  trial.  There  seems  no 
reason  for  doubting,  however,  that  the  Latin  text  we  possess 
fairly   represents     the    original    notes,    or    -proces    verbal,f    of 

*  As,  for  instance,  De  Rossi,  Manicchi,  and  AUard. 

f  Two  unmistakable  marks  of  the  genuineness  of  the  piece  are — (1)  It  is 
undated  save  that  the  name  of  the  magistrate  or  prefect  is  given;  hence  it  would 
seem  that  the  present  version  or  redaction  generally  reproduced  the  original 
document,  no  attempt  having  been  made  to  amplify  or  to  render  it  more  interesting 
or  instructive.  (2)  The  place  or  places  of  interment  of  these  martyrs  is  not 
indicated  in  the  "  Acts."  This  is  a  mark  of  high  antiquity,  as  in  the  early  days 
great  secrecy  at  first,  for  obvious  reasons,  was  observed  as  to  the  place  where  the 
remains  of  any  well-known  confessor  were  laid.  Accurate  modern  scholarship  has, 
however,  determined  the  date  almost  with  certainty,  and  modern  scientific  research 
has,  curiousl}-,  lighted  upon  some  of  the  places  of  sepulchre  of  these  martyrs. 

A  considerable  amount  of  controversy  has  arisen  on  the  question  of  the  authen- 
ticity of  these  celebrated  "Acts  of  S.  Felicitas" — Aube  attacks  them,  and  Renan 
accepts  Aube's  view.  Tillemont  considers  that  they  have  not  all  the  characteristics 
of  genuine  "  Acts."  Bishop  Lightfoot,  in  a  long  note  in  his  apjjendix  to  the  reign 
of  Marcus  Aurelius,  Ep.  of  S.  Polj'carp  {Apostolic  Fathers),  sums  up  against  them, 
but  does  not  consider  it  improbable  that  S.  Felicitas  was  a  real  person,  and  that  she 
may  have  had  a  son  or  sons  who  were  martj'red. 

On  the  other  hand,  very  many  recent  scholars  maintain  their  authenticity — 
so  De  Rossi,  Borghesi,  Doulcet,  Marucchi,  and  others.  AlLtrd,  the  most  recent, 
accepts  them  [Histoire  des  Persecutions,  vol.  i.,  chap,  vi.),  and  translates  them  at 
length  with  copious  notes  in  his  history  as  a  valuable  genuine  piece,  illustrated 
from  De  Rossi  and  others. 

On  the  whole,  the  balance  of  evidence  is  strongly  in  favour  of  their  general 
authenticity.  It  is  j  ossible  that  they  have  been  redacted  in  a  later  ago,  but  probably 
in  the  main  they  are  absolutely  a  genuine  piece.  They  are  contained  in  the  "Acta 
Sincera  "  of  Ruinart. 


A    CHAPTER    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  108 

what     passed    at    the    trial    of    the    heroic    mother    and    her 
sons. 

FeHcitas  belonged,  as  we  have  said,  to  the  higher  ranks 
of  the  society  ot  the  day ;  she  was  a  widow,  famous  in 
Christian  circles  for  her  earnest  and  devoted  piety.  The 
high  rank  and  position  which  she  occupied  evidently  gave 
her  considerable  influence.  A  deputation  from  among  the 
Pagan  pontitFs  of  Rome,  well  aware  doubtless  of  the  hostile 
feeling  of  the  Emperor  towards  the  Christian  community, 
approached  Marcus,  and  laid  an  information  against  Felicitas 
as  belonging  to  the  unlawful  religion.  They  played  upon 
the  Emperor's  well-known  superstition,  dwelling  upon  the 
wrath  of  the  immortal  gods  stirred  up  by  this  woman  s 
impiety  towards  them ;  a  wrath  which  they  professed  to 
be  unable  to  appease.  The  Sovereign,  acting  upon  this 
information,  directed  the  Prefect  of  the  city  to  see  that  she 
and  her  sons  at  once  publicly  sacrificed  to  the  offended 
gods.  From  the  name  of  the  Prefect,  Publius,  which  is 
given  in  the  "  Acts,"  we  are  enabled  to  date  the  martyrdom 
circa  a.d.  162.  This  year,  we  know,  was  spent  by  the 
Emperor  Marcus  in  Rome. 

The  Prefect  Publius  summoned  Felicitas,  and  endeavoured, 
first  by  gentle  words,  then  by  threats  of  a  public  execution, 
to  induce  her  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods.  Felicitas  refused,  tellmg 
the  magistrate  that  she  was  conscious  of  the  indwelling  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  who  Avould  defend  her  from  being  overcome 
by  the  Evil  One.  "  I  am  assured  that  while  I  hve  I  shall 
be  the  victor  in  m}^  contest  with  you,  and  if  you  cause  me 
to  be  put  to  death  I  shall  be  still  more  a  conqueror." 

Publius  then  said :  "  Unhappy  one,  if  it  is  pleasant  for 
you  to  die,  at  least  let  your  sons  live." 

"  My  sons,"  said  Felicitas,  "  will  surely  live  if  they  do 
not  consent  to  sacrifice  to  idols.  But  if  they  commit  this 
crime  of  sarcrificing  they  will  die  eternally," 

The  day  following  the  Prefect  took  his  seat  in  the  Forum, 
a  place  probably  surrounding  the  Temple  of  Mars  Ultor 
(The  Avenger),  and  summoned  her  sons  to  appear  as  accused 
before  him. 


194  EARLY    CHRIS TIANITY    AND    PAGANISM. 

The  first  interrogation  of  Felicitas,  due  regard  being  had 
to  her  exalted  rank,  Avas  held  apparently  in  private.  But 
now,  as  she  had  proved  contumacious,  her  trial  and  that  of 
her  seven  sons  was  conducted  in  the  open  Forum.  "  Be 
pitiful  at  least  to  your  sons,  these  gallant  young  men,  still 
in  the  flower  of  their  youth,"  said  the  magistrate  to  the 
accused  Christian  lady.  Felicitas,  turning  to  her  sons,  bade 
them,  "Look  up  to  Heaven,  where  Christ  with  His  saints 
is  waiting  for  you,  fight  the  good  fight  for  your  souls,  and 
show  yourselves  faithful  in  the  love  of  Christ."  Then  the 
Prefect  Publius  ordered  his  attendants  to  strike  her,  saying, 
"  Do  you  dare  in  my  presence  to  urge  that  the  commands 
of  our  masters  (the  associated  Emperors  Marcus  and  Verus) 
shall  be  set  at  nought  ? "  Then,  commanding  that  her  sons 
one  by  one  should  be  placed  before  him,  he  addressed  the 
eldest,  Januarius,  offering  him  a  rich  and  coveted  guerdon 
if  he  complied  with  the  command  and  sacrificed,  but 
threatening  him  with  scourging  with  rods  if  he  refused. 
Januarius  simply  answered,  "  The  wisdom  of  the  Lord  will 
support  me  and  enable  me  to  endure  all."  He  was  at  once 
scourged  and  led  back  to  prison.  The  second,  Felix,  refused 
too,  saying,  "  We  adore  one  God,  to  whom  we  offer  the 
sacrifice  of  prayers ;  never  suppose  that  you  will  separate 
me  or  my  brothers  from  the  love  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 
our  faith  will  never  be  overcome  or  be  changed  by  any  of 
your  threats."  To  the  third  son,  Philip,  Publius  said,  "  Our 
lord  the  Emperor  Antoninus  commands  that  you  should 
sacrifice  to  the  all-mighty  gods."  Philip  replied,  "  They 
are  neither  gods  nor  are  they  all-mighty.  The}'  are  but 
vain,  pitiful  images,  and  those  who  shall  consent  to  sacrifice 
to  them  will  risk  an  eternal  danger."  To  Silvanus,  the 
fourth  son,  the  Prefect  spoke  as  follows  :  "  I  see  you  have 
agreed  with  your  ill-starred  mother  to  despise  the  commands 
of  the  Princes  (Marcus  Antoninus  and  his  colleague  Verus), 
and  thus  to  bring  about  your  ruin."  "  If,"  replied  Silvanus, 
"  we  were  to  fear  a  temporary  death,  we  should  be  punished 
with  an  eternal  death,  but  as  we  know  well  what  rewards 
are  prepared  for  the  just,  what  punishments  are  reserved  for 


A    CHAPTER    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  195 

sinners,  we  can  safely  despise  the  Roman  law  when  it  comes 
in  conflict  with  the  Divine  law.  If  we  treat  these  idols  with 
scorn,  and  serve  the  All-mighty  God,  we  shall  Avin  eternal 
life."  To  the  fifth  of  Felicitas'  sons,  Alexander,  the  magistrate 
spoke  as  follows:  "Think  of  yom-  tender  age,  be  pitiful  to 
your  life,  still  on  its  threshold,  act  as  your  sovereign 
Antonmus  would  have  you  act.  Sacrifice  to  the  gods  and 
become  the  friend  of  the  AugustL""^  The  brave  youth  at 
once  answered,  "  I  am  the  servant  of  Christ,  I  confess  it 
openly,  I  love  Him  from  my  heart,  I  am  ever  adoring  Him. 
Yes,  I  know  I  am  young,  but  I  have  the  wisdom  of  age  so 
I  adore  our  God.  As  for  your  gods,  they  and  their  worshippers 
alike  will  perish." 

To  the  sixth  son,  Vitalis,  the  Prefect  put  the  following 
question :  "  Perhaps  you  Avill  choose  to  live,  and  will  not 
prefer  dying  ? "  Vitalis  in  reply  asked,  "  Who  is  it  who 
really  chooses  to  live?  The  one  who  adores  the  true  God, 
or  he  who  seeks  the  protection  of  a  demon  ? "  Publius 
then  inquired,  "  What  demon  do  you  refer  to  ? "  Vitalis 
quietly  answered,  "  All  the  gods  of  all  nations  are  demons ; 
so  too  are  they  who  worship  them." 

Martial,  the  seventh  and  last  of  the  accused,  was  thus 
apostrophised  by  the  magistrate,  "  You  are  your  own  enemies, 
you  despise  the  ordinances  of  the  Augusti  (Marcus  and 
Verus),  and  you  persist  in  your  own  destruction."  "  Oh," 
cried  Martial,  "  if  you  only  knew  what  punishments  were 
reserved  for  those  who  worship  idols !  But  God  still  restrains 
His  anger  from  (crushing)  you  and  your  idol  gods.  All  who 
do  not  confess  that  Christ  is  the  true  God  will  go  into 
eternal  fire." 

The  proces-verhal  of  the  trial  was  forwarded  to  the 
Emperor  Marcus  for  his  decision.  This  was  probably  done 
because   of    the   high    rank    of    the   accused,   for    as    a    rule 

*  This  offer  to  the  young  Christian  nolile  was  a  highly  coveted  distinction 
bestowed  now  and  again  on  persons  of  rank.  The  "  Amici  Augusti "  (friends 
of  Augustus)  possessed  the  right  of  access  to  the  Imperial  presence  and  a  seat 
at  his  table.  It  was  reckoned  a  gi-eat  distinction,  and  we  find  it  inscribed 
among  the  titles  of  honour  on  funeral  tablets. 


19()  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  magistrate  summarily  condemned  to  death  persons  who 
confessed  that  they  were  Christians. 

The  decision  of  the  Emperor  does  not  seem  to  have 
tarried.  The  accused  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  three 
officers  whose  duties  consisted  in  the  charge  of  the  prisons 
and  of  the  arrangements  connected  with  capital  punish- 
ments.    (Triuvxviri  capitales.) 

Januarius  was  sentenced  to  be  beaten  to  death  by  whips 
loaded  with  lead.  The  second  and  third  brothers  were 
doomed  to  a  somewhat  similar  fate.  The  fourth  was  hurled 
from  a  height,  and  so  died.  The  three  remaining  brothers 
and  their  mother,  Felicitas,  were  decapitated.  The  punish- 
ment of  Januarius  and  the  second  and  third  of  his  noble 
brothers  was  somewhat  unusual  in  the  case  of  illustrious 
Romans,  but  this  last  degradation  in  death  no  doubt  was 
intended  as  a  stern  warning  to  like  offenders  belonging  to 
the  higher  ranks  of  society. 

The  text  of  the  "  Acts "  implies  that  the  executions  of 
the  martyrs  were  not  all  carried  out  in  the  same  place.  It 
is  probable  that  the  places  of  their  sepulture  were  chosen  as. 
near  as  possible  to  the  scenes  of  the  martyrdom.  The  State, 
as  a  rule,  was  merciful  to  the  friends  of  the  executed  and 
usually  gave  up  the  bodies  of  those  put  to  death  to  their 
friends  for  burial.  But  in  the  case  of  the  unpopular  Christians, 
the  violence  of  the  mobs,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of 
Polycarp  of  Smyrna,  sometimes  destroyed  these  sacred  relics ; 
hence  the  silence  in  the  "  Acts "  as  to  the  place  of  interment. 
But  the  tradition  of  these  sacred  spots  was  faithfully  kept 
in  the  Roman  Church,  and  in  the  list  of  the  "  birthdays " 
(as  the  anniversaries  of  the  day  of  their  deaths  were  termed) 
of  the  more  famous  martyrs,  which  were  kept  solemnly  in 
the  first  quarter  of  the  fourth  centur}-,  when  Miltiades^ 
A.D.  311-314,  was  Bishop  of  Rome,  we  find  four  of  the  well- 
known  cemeteries  (or  catacombs)  specified  as  the  places  of 
sepulture  of  Felicitas  and  her  seven  sons.  This  ancient 
reference  is  reproduced  in  the  several  lists  of  the  catacombs 
containing  tombs  of  famous  martyrs  usually  visited  by  pilgrims, 
between  the  fourth  and  seventh  centuries. 


A    GHAPTEE    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  197 

Time,  and  the  successive  ravages  by  barbarian  invaders 
and  others  to  which  the  catacombs  have  been  subjected, 
have  removed  all  traces  of  the  sepulture  of  six  of  the  martyred 
sons.  But  a  broken  portion  of  the  inscription  Saxct  Fel 
(icitas)  has  been  unearthed  in  the  spot  designated  by  the 
ancient  documents  as  the  place  of  the  mother's  sepulture, 
leaving  no  doubt  as  to  the  perfect  accuracy  of  the  ancient 
tradition.'^ 

But  a  far  more  striking  discovery  t  by  De  Rossi  in  the 
ancient  catacomb  of  Prgetextatus  on  the  Appian  Way  has 
shown  us  the  tomb  of  Januarius  scarcely  changed,  though 
more  than  seventeen  hundred  years  have  passed  since  the 
blood-stained  remains  ot  the  eldest  of  the  martyred  seven 
were  tenderly  and  reverently  laid  to  rest. 

The  catacomb  of  Prtetextatus,  from  many  ancient  references, 
was  kno^vn  to  be  rich  in  historic  memories ;  and  when  part 
of  it  was  being  carefully  excavated,  and  the  heaps  of  earth 
and  rubbish  removed,  a  large  and  carefully  decorated  crypt 
or  cubiculum  was  uncovered,  the  peculiar  masonry  and  decora- 
tions of  which  experts  referred  to  the  times  of  the  Antonines ; 
scratched  in  the  plaster  of  a  fast  fading  fresco  of  the  Good 
Shepherd  on  the  wall  wa.s  the  following  uncouth  inscription 
containing  these  words  and  fi'agments  of  words  : — 

...     MI   REFRIGERI   JANUARIUS   AGATOPUS   FELICISSIM    .     .     .     MAETYEES. 

(may   JASUARIDS,    AGATOPUS,    FELICISSIMUS   THE   MARTYRS   REFRESH    [tHE    SOL'L   Of]      .      .       .)+ 

Agatopus  and  Felicissiinus  were  two  martyrs,  deacons  of 
Pope  Sixtus  II.,  buried  in  the  catacomb  of  Prtetextatus  a.d. 
258.  The  friends  of  some  dead  Christian  interred  at  a  later 
period  near  the  spot  had  scratched  these  words  some  two  or 
three  centuries  after,  invoking  the  protection  of  the  three  famous 
saints  for  their  dear  dead  one. 

The  invocation  implied  that  Januarius  was  buried  in  this 
cubiculum.    The  inference  was  shown  eventual^  to  be  absolutely 


*  De  liossi,  Hull,  di  Arch.   Christ.,   1863,   p.    21,   41-49. 

t  Ibid.,  1-4. 

J  Ibid.,  pp.  2,  4,   and  see  also  AlJard,   Hist,  dcs  Pers.,  vol.  i.,  chap.  ^-i. 


198  EARLY    GHRISTrAKITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

correct,  for  in  a.d.  1863,  as  De  Rossi  was  making  further 
investigation  on  the  spot,  he  found  some  fragments  of  marble 
on  which,  when  put  together,  the  following  inscription  could  be 
deciphered.  It  was  the  work  of  Philocalus,  the  artist  of  Pope 
Damasus,  a.d.  366-384,  by  whose  reverent  care  so  many  of 
the  precious  martyr  tombs  of  the  second  and  third  century 
were  restored  and  marked : 

BEATiSSIMO    MARTYRI 

lANVARIO 
DAMASVS    EPISCOP 

FECIT. 

thus  localising  bej'ond  doubt  the  site  of  the  sepulchre 
where  the  remains  of  Januarius,  the  eldest  of  the  martyred 
sons  of  Felicitas,  were  originally  deposited. 


SECTION  III. — THE   PRISON  LIFE  P.EFORE   A  MARTYRDOM. 

For  our  sketch  of  the  prison  scene  in  the  case  of  an 
accused  Christian,  we  have  chosen  perhaps  the  most  beautiful 
and  graphic  of  all  the  records  which  have  come  down  to 
us  of  these  martyrdoms:  the  one  contained  in  what  is  known 
as  the  Passion  of  S.  Perpetua, 

The  circumstances  related  in  the  "  Passion "  in  question 
took  place,  circa  a.d.  202-3,  some  forty  years  later  than  the 
martyrdom  of  Felicitas  and  her  sons.  The  Emperor  Severus 
was  on  the  throne,  a  Sovereign  ill-disposed  to  the  religion 
of  Jesus,  in  whose  reign  a  long  and  bitter  persecution  of 
Christianity  raged  in  most  districts  of  the  Empire.  The 
scene  of  the  martyrdom  and  of  the  events  which  preceded 
it  was  the  great  city  of  Carthage,  the  capital  of  the  province 
of  North  Africa. 

The  "  piece,"  the  authenticity  of  which  is  supported  by 
contemporary  authorities,  is  generally  received  by  scholars 
as  a  genuine"^  martyrology,  largely  the  work  of  the  heroine 
of  the  story. 

The  "  Passion  "  in  the  form  Avhich  we  now  possess  is  evidently 

*  See  Appendix  D. 


A    CHAPTER    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  199 

written  by  three  hands.  By  far  the  largest  part  is  ihe  prison 
memoir  of  Perpetua  herself  A  small  section  containing 
the  relation  of  Saturus'  vision  in  prison  claims  to  have  been 
written  by  Saturus*  himself  It  is  woven  into  Perpetua's 
narrative.  A  short  introduction  by  the  redactor,  or  original 
editor,  prefaces  the  memoir  of  Perpetua,  and  an  account  of  the 
martyrdom  closes  the  piece.  This  touching  nairative  of  the 
final  sufferings  of  the  little  company  was  written  in  compliance 
with  Perpetua's  request,  made  shortly  before  she  suffered. 

The  immediate  cause  of  the  outbreak  of  persecuting  fury 
at  Carthage  seems  to  have  been  one  of  those  frequent  popular 
disturbances  in  large  cities  excited  by  Pagan  fanatics  against 
the  Christian  community. 

The  little  company  who  made  up  the  actors  in  the  bloody 
drama,    the    subject    of    the    "  Passion,"     consisted    of    Vivia 
Perpetua   herself,   a  young  married  lad}^   of  good   family  and 
position,   and   Saturus ;    two   slaves,    Revocatus   and   Felicitas 
and  two  young  men,  Saturninus  and  Secundulus. 

The  arrest  of  this  little  group  of  Christians,  apparently 
quite  unconnected  by  any  link  or  family  bond  with  each 
other,  was  due  to  the  accusation  of  a  delator,  or  informer. 
They  were  hearers  or  pupils  of  Saturus,  and  the  mformation 
was  probably  laid  against  them  owing  to  a  recent  rescript 
of  the  Emperor  Severus  sternly  forbidding  any  Christian 
propaganda.  The  accused  at  first  were  simpl}^  confined  to 
their  own  dwellings.  They  had  not,  when  first  arrested 
received  the  rite  of  baptism.  This,  however,  after  the  danger 
of  their  position  was  recognised  by  them,  was  no  longer 
delayed.  And  Perpetua,  we  read,  made  a  special  request  at 
her  baptism  for  strength  to  endure  suffering.  The  prayer 
was  granted.  The  father  of  Perpetua,  who  was  a  Pagan,  in 
vain  entreated  his  daughter  to  apostatise.  The  accused  were 
soon  removed  to  one  of  the  common  gaols  of  Carthage, 
where  they  were  herded  together  with  other  prisoners  in 
close  and  dark  cells. 

*  Saturus  was  a  teacher  of  Carthage.  He  had  been  the  instructor  of 
Perpetua  in  the  Chiistian  faith,  and  suffered  martyrdom  at  the  same  time  as 
Perpetua  and  her  companions. 


200  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM 

It  was  the  custom  in  Christian  communities  when  an 
arrest  was  made  of  any  of  their  number,  at  once  to  send 
deacons  to  the  prison  to  comfort  and  assist  the  captives  in 
the  faith.  Two  deacons,  Tertius  and  Pomponius,  were  appointed 
for  this  duty,  and  they  paid  the  gaolers  to  allow  the  accused 
some  relaxations  from  the  stern  prison  treatment.  Among 
other  favours,  Perpetua  was  allowed  to  have  her  child  vv'ith 
her.  She  tells  us  in  her  narrative  how  the  prison  noY/ 
became  a  pleasant  abode.  Her  brother  visited  her  too,  and 
congratulated  her  on  the  privilege  she  enjoyed  as  a  sufferer 
for  the  faith's  sake,  and  suggested  she  should  ask  in  prayer 
what  would  be  the  result  of  her  captivity — would  she  be  put 
to  death  or  set  at  hberty  ?  Perpetua  prayed  earnestly,  and 
as  an  answer  to  her  prayer  she  related  to  her  brother  how 
in  the  night  as  she  slept  a  vision  had  been  vouchsafed  to 
her.  She  saw  a  great  ladder,  very  steep,  reaching  up  to 
Heaven,  and  on  the  sides  of  the  ladder  were  swords  and 
instruments  of  torture.  A  slip  or  a  false  step  would  at  once 
expose  anyone  who  should  attempt  to  ascend  the  steep  ladder 
rungs  to  being  cut  and  maimed.  At  the  foot  of  the  ladder 
crouched  a  huge  beast  which  she  called  a  dragon. 

Saturus,  her  teacher,  climbed  the  ladder  before  her,  and 
from  the  top  he  called  to  her :  "  I  will  support  you,  Perpetua ; 
but  beware  of  the  dragon  biting  you."  She  answered :  "  He 
will  do  me  no  harm,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ."  She 
fearlessly  put  her  foot  on  the  beast's  head  and  climbed  up 
safely. 

At  the  top  she  found  a  vast  garden,  and  in  the  garden  a 
white-haired  shepherd  milking  his  Hocks ;  around  him  were 
gathered  many  thousands  of  white-robed  forms.  The  shepherd 
looked  up  and  spoke  to  her  :  "  Thou  hast  well  come,  my  child  "  ; 
then  he  gave  her  a  little  piece  of  curd  which  she  received  and 
ate,  and  those  who  stood  by  said  "  Amen."  She  awoke  with 
the  taste  of  something  in  her  mouth  she  could  not  explain, 
but  it  was  very  sweet.  Perpetua  knew  she  had  seen  her 
Lord,  and  that  He  meant  her  to  understand  that  her 
"  Passion "  was  determined  upon,  and  that  there  was  no 
prospect  of  release  for  her. 


A    CHAPTER    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  201 

This  and  her  subsequent  visions  in  prison  are  the  only 
supernatural  incidents  in  the  narrative,  nor  need  we  question 
their  reality.  Such  dreams  were  by  no  means  uncommon 
in  these  supreme  moments  of  martyrdom.  Cyprian,  for 
instance,  among  others,  relates  what  he  saw  in  a  vision  when 
his  martyrdom  was  near  at  hand.  It  is  besides  by  no  means 
inconceivable  that  these  visions  of  comfort  were  vouchsafed 
now  and  again  to  the  faithful  witnesses  in  their  bitter  trials  ; 
and,  indeed,  what  we  deem  purely  natural  causes  might  well 
produce  such  dreams  in  the  sutferers,  who  in  their  waking 
moments  had  been  dwelling  on  what  they  had  heard  or  read 
of  Heaven,"^  living  in  a  feverish  state  of  expectation  of  death, 
which  they  looked  upon  as  the  sure  end  of  their  trials  and 
troubles  and  anguish,  and  at  the  same  time  as  the  gate  of 
Heaven  and  eternal  felicity. 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Perpetua  and  Saturus, 
who  also  tells  a  strange  dream  which  came  to  him  as  he 
waited  for  death,  truly  and  faithfully  relate  their  o^ni  experi- 
ences in  the  dreary  Carthage  prison. 

The  day  of  trial  drew  near.  The  father  of  Perpetua  again 
came  to  see  his  daughter  in  her  hard  captivity,  and  entreated 
her  as  before  to  have  compassion  on  his  white  hairs,  remem- 
bering how  in  times  past  he  had  loved  her  best  of  all  his 
children  ;  he  prayed  her  not  to  disgrace  him  now  by  dying  a 
public  death  of  shame,  beseeching  her  to  think  of  her  mother, 
her  brothers,  her  baby  boy. 

"  I  was  very,  very  sorry  for  him,"  wrote  Perpetua,  "  and  I 
tried  to  comfort  him  by  telling  him  God  would  decide  the 
issue  for  us  all,  for  we  belonged  not  to  ourselves  but  to  Him ; 
but  my  father  left  me  alone,  very  sad." 

The  public  trial  soon  came  off.  In  the  court  the  Procurator 
Hilarianus  presided  in  the  room  of  the  pro-consul  lately 
deceased.  The  Acts  of  the  Passion  are  very  brief  here.  They 
simply  relate  the  advice  of  the  judge  to  Perpetua  to  have 
pity   on   her    grey-haired  father  and   her   baby    boy,    and    to 

*  See  Appendix  D,  where  the  impression  left  on  their  minds  of  such  promises 
as  are  contained  in  the  "  Apocalypse  of  S.  John ''  and  in  other  writings,  such  as  the 
'•  Shepherd  of  Heruias  "  is  referred  to. 


202  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

sacrifice  for  the  safety  of  the  Emperor,  Perpetua  refused. 
Then  the  magistrate  directlj^  asked  her  whether  she  was  a 
Christian. 

"  I  am  a  Christian,"  rephed  the  accused.  Forthwith  the 
Kttle  group  was  condemned  to  the  wild  beasts,  and  the  con- 
demned ones,  all  joyful,  went  back  to  their  prison. 

The  last  scene,  however,  was  delayed.  The  victims  were  to  be 
reserved  for  the  public  games  in  the  Amphitheatre  which  were 
fixed  for  the  anniversary  of  the  CaBsar  Geta,  the  Emperor 
Severus'  son.  The  prison  life  went  on  much  as  before  with 
the  doomed  companions ;  they  prayed  much  together.  One 
day  as  they  were  thus  praying  the  name  of  Perpetua's  little 
brother,  Dinocrates,  suddenly  occurred  to  her.  Dinocrates 
had  been  long  dead.  The  child  had  been  afflicted  wdth  a 
malignant  cancer  in  the  face,  which  had  proved  fatal.  The 
sudden  remembrance  of  her  little  brother  seemed  to  Perpetua 
an  intimation  that  she  was  accounted  Avorthy  to  intercede  for 
him ;  so  she  at  once  prayed  long  and  earnestly  to  the  Lord 
for  the  dead  child.  In  the  night  she  had  another  vision. 
We  relate  it  in  her  own  touching,  simple  language. 

"  I  saw  Dinocrates  coming  out  of  a  dark  place  where 
there  were  many  others.  The  child's  face  was  sad,  pale, 
scarred  by  the  fatal  cancer  which  had  been  the  cause  of  his 
death.     The  death  had  been  a  sad  one  to  witness. 

"Between  me  and  m}^  brother  lay  a  gulf  (space)  which 
was  impossible  to  cross.  Near  Dinocrates  there  stood  a 
piscina  (or  tank)  full  of  water,  but  the  rim  of  the  tank  was 
too  high  for  a  child  to  reach.  Dinocrates  was  thirsty,  and 
kept  stretching  up  to  it  as  though  he  wished  to  drink.  I 
av/"oke,  and  understood  at  once  that  my  brother  was  in 
suffering." 

In  the  meanwhile  the  captives  were  removed  into  another 
prison,  and  the  conditions  of  their  imprisonment  became 
harsher.  Perpetua,  however,  kept  on  praying  at  all  hours  for 
Dinocrates.  As  she  prayed  (no  doubt  again  while  she  was 
sleeping),  once  more  she  saw  her  little  brother ;  but  now  the 
terrible  cancer  scar  seemed  quite  healed ;  he  appeared  to  have 
been  tenderly  cared  for,  and  seemed  quite  happy ;  the  piscina 


A    G HAP T Ell    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  203 

she  had  noticed  in  her  first  vision  was  lowered,  and  out  of  a. 
golden  cup  which  never  failed  he  drank  as  he  pleased.  "  I 
saw  him  now  playing  quite  happily  as  children  play.  Then  I 
understood  that  he  was  released  from  punishment."* 

As  the  day  of  the  deadly  combat  in  the  Amphitheatre  drew 
nearer  and  nearer,  crowds  of  Christians  visited  the  condemned 
in  their  prison,  the  guards  on  duty  freely  allowing  these 
visitors  to  pass  in  and  out.  Amongst  others,  the  father  of 
Perpetua  kept  coming,  hoping  still  to  induce  his  dear  daughter 
to  recant. 

Perpetua  relates  another  vision  before  the  end  came  ;  by 
no  means  an  unnatural  one  considering  the  fate  that  lay 
before  her,  upon  which  she  was  continually  brooding  by  night 
and  by  day.  She  dreamed  that  the  day  of  the  combat  had 
at  length  arrived,  and  Pomponius,  the  Deacon,  who  had  often 
visited  her,  had  arrived  to  accompany  her  to  the  dread  scene 
in  the  theatre.  He  was  arrayed  in  a  white  robe.  He  took 
her  to  the  place  of  combat  and  then  left  her,  with  the  words, 
"  Fear  not,  I  am  here  with  thee  and  suffer  with  thee."  She 
describes  vividly  her  fighting  ^vith  a  hideous  Egyptian  and 
his  attendants  ;  she  tells  how  a  great  form  shod  with  shoes 
of  gold  and  silver,  carrying  a  green  bough  on  which  were 
golden    apples,  stood   by.      She   was    the    victor   in   the    sore 

*  Scholars  differ  as  to  what  the  special  guilt  of  the  little  boy  could  have 
been.  The  general  oijinion,  however,  is  in  accord,  that  he  died  without  baptism. 
The  whole  vision  is  interesting,  partly  from  it  being  an  evidence  as  to  the  teaching 
at  that  early  period  of  the  importance  of  baptism,  partly  from  the  efficacy  of 
prayer  offered  by  the  living  for  the  dead.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  before 
any  rash  deductions  are  drawn  from  this  authentic  and  early  record,  how  singularly 
effective  the  prayers  of  those  who  were  about  to  suffer  martyrdom  for  the  Faith 
were  esteemed  by  the  Church  in  those  bitter  days  of  persecution.  It  by  no  means 
follows  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  early  Church  the  prayers  of  persons  living 
every-day  lives  would  be  equally  efficacious.  The  case,  tuo,  of  the  little  boy's 
sufferings  is  exceptional.  If  he  were  in  a  state  of  suffering  owing  to  his  having 
died  yet  unbaptised,  as  Perpetua  evidently  believed,  it  was  no  fault  of  the  poor 
little  feUow.  That  prayers,  however,  for  the  dead  were  offered  by  the  early 
Church  during  the  first  three  centuries  is  indisputable.  Innumerable  inscriptions 
on  funeral  tablets  bear  witness  here,  as  also  do  prayers  found  in  the  oldest 
liturgies  we  possess.  The  blessing  prayed  for  in  the  case  of  the  departed  is  vague, 
however,  and  is  best  summed  up  in  the  baautiful  and  expressive  word,  "  refri- 
gerium  " — refreshment  {refrigeria  (Sterna). 


204  EARLY    CBBI8T1ANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

conflict;  the  form  that  stood  by  gave  her  the  green  bough, 
and  she  left  the  Amphitheatre  with  glory.  "And  I  awoke," 
wrote  Perpetua  in  her  story,  "  and  understood  that  it  was 
not  with  beasts  but  against  the  devil  that  I  was  to  fight.  But 
I  knew  the  victory  was  mine." 

Woven  into  the  beautiful  tapestry  of  Perpetua's  story 
is  a  short  account  written  by  Saturus,  the  Christian  teacher, 
who  was  also  condemned  to  the  wild  beasts,  of  a  vision 
he  saw  when  in  prison  with  Perpetua  and  the  others. 
The  story  of  his  vision  is  like  the  recital  of  the  dreams  we 
have  been  quoting  from,  simple,  fervid,  eloquent.  It  reads 
true,  every  line  of  it.  It  was  a  striking,  even  a  wonderful 
experience,  that  of  Saturus.  We  give  a  few  extracts  from 
his  words.  "  We "  (Saturus  and  Perpetua,  his  pupil)  "  had 
suffered  and  were  no  longer  in  the  flesh.  Four  angels  seemed 
to  bear  us  up,  but  we  were  touched  by  no  hands,  we  ap- 
peared to  be  gently  ascending  in  an  eastward  direction,  and 
before  us  lay  a  light  incomprehensible.  I  said  to  Perpetua, 
who  was  at  my  side,  '  This  is  what  the  Lord  promised  us. 
We  have  received  the  promise.'  The  four  angels  still  bearing 
us,  we  found  ourselves  in  a  vast  garden  (viridarium)  of  roses, 
and  of  all  manner  of  flowers.  Four  other  angels  were  there 
yet  more  glorious  than  the  first  four,  who  greeted  us  with 
honour.  We  found  there  (in  the  garden)  more  martyrs  known 
to  us  who  had  been  burned  lately  in  the  course  of,  the  per- 
secution, and  we  asked  them  questions,  but  the  angels  said, 
'  Come  first  and  salute  the  Lord.' 

"So  we  passed  on  and  came  to  a  place  the  very  walls  of 
which  were,  as  it  were,  built  of  transparent  light,  and  the 
angels  who  stood  before  the  gate  put  white  garments  on  us  as 
we  went  in,  and  Ave  heard  the  hymn,  '  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,'  being 
sung  ceaselessly,  and  we  saw  One  sitting  all  in  white,  with 
the  face  of  a  young  man.  Four  elders  were  sitting  on  either 
side  of  Him,  and  behind  were  many  other  elders.  All  won- 
dering with  admiration  we  stood  before  the  Throne ;  lifted 
up  by  the  four  angels,  we  kissed  Him ;  when  we  had  kissed 
the  Lord  the  elders  bade  us  go  and  play.  {Ite  et  ludite — the 
Greek    version   has   '  go   and   rejoice.')      I   said    to    Perpetua, 


A    GRAFTER    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  205 

Now  you  have   what  you   longed   for.'     She   replied,  'I   was 
glad  when  I  was  in  the  flesh,  I  am  more  glad  now.'  " 

One  of  the  group,  the  slave  Felicitas,  gave  birth  to  a  child 
when  in  prison.  In  her  condition  she  would  not  have  been 
allowed  to  have  been  exposed  to  the  wild  beasts,  and  the 
brave  girl  was  sorely  grieved  at  the  possibility  of  being  thus 
cut  off  from  "  witnessing  to  death  "  with  her  companions.  So 
they  all  prayed  with  intense  earnestness  for  her.  Three  days 
before  the  day  fixed  for  the  Amphitheatre  rhow,  the  slave 
Felicitas,  was  delivered.  One  of  the  gaolers,  as  she  suffered, 
heard  her  moaning,  and  said  to  her,  "  If  you  cannot  bear 
these  sufferings,  how  will  you  endure  the  rush  of  the  wild 
beasts  in  the  arena,  you  scorner  of  the  gods  ? "  "  To-da}'," 
replied  Felicitas,  "  I  am  enduring  my  own  sufferings,  but  then 
there  will  be  another  within  me  (my  Lord)  who  will  suffer  for 
me,  because  I  shall  suffer  for  Him." 

They  were  no  sombre  group  of  gloomy  fanatics,  this 
Perpetua  and  her  companions,  ever  with  a  smile  on  their 
lips,  and  a  quiet  half-humorous  reproach  for  their  guards 
when  they  behaved  more  harshl}^  than  usual.  They  had  no 
dislike,  no  repugnance  to  the  bright  sunny  life  which  pos- 
sessed so  fair  a  setting  in  that  beautiful  North  African  sea- 
board of  the  old  historic  Carthaginian  land.  In  one  of  her 
striking  prison  visions,  where  the  heaven-life  plays  so  con- 
spicuous a  part,  Perpetua  told  her  companion  in  bliss,  as  he 
had  been  her  companion  in  aniruish,  how  happy  she  had  been 
on  earth,  though  she  was  then  far  happier  in  heaven.  It  was 
the  intense  reality  of  their  faith  which  carried  them  all 
through  their  sufferings,  which  nerved  them  to  meet  the- 
cruellest  of  deaths.  It  was  no  weariness  of  life  which  made 
them  so  glad  to  quit  it.  It  was  simply  that  they  would  not 
purchase  life  for  an  hour  at  the  price  of  denying  their  Lord, 
who  they  kneic  vrould  meet  His  brave  confessors  after  the 
moment  of  the  death  agony,  face  to  face.  It  was  worth  while 
to  suffer  for  tJwU. 

It  was  the  custom  the  evening  before  the  Amphitheatre 
games  for  the  condemned  to  be  entertained  somewhat  liber- 
ally at  the  public  expense.     To  this  ghastly  entertainment — 


20C  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

this  death  supper — many  of  the  public  were  admitted  as 
lookers-on.  A  crowd  of  Pagan  sightseers  assembled  in  the 
prison  of  Carthage  where  the  Christians,  who  were  to  prove 
one  of  the  principal  sights  in  the  bloody  games  of  the  morrow, 
were  confined. 

They  thronged  round  the  table  where  Perpetua  and  her 
friends  were  sitting.  "  Is  not  to-morrow  long  enough,"  re- 
monstrated Saturus,  "  for  you  to  feast  your  eyes  upon  those 
you  hate  ?  Smiling  on  us  this  evening  as  curious  friends, 
to-morrow  you  will  be  our  deadly  enemies."  He  was  alluding 
to  the  fierce  thirst  for  the  blood  of  the  victims  which  usually 
possessed  the  spectators  of  those  awful  games.  (The  accuracy 
of  Saturus's  onlook  here  was  sadly  verified  by  the  behaviour 
of  the  spectators  in  the  Amphitheatre  when  Perpetua  and  the 
others  were  exposed  to  the  beasts.)  "  Now  mark  well  our 
countenances,  that  you  may  know  them  again  at  the  Day 
of  Judgment."  The  half  playful,  half  earnest  words  of  the 
Christian  teacher  who  was  to  die  on  the  day  following  deeply 
impressed  many  of  the  bystanders,  some  of  whom  eventually 
became  converts  to  the  Faith  they  had  been  taught  to  hate. 

What  happened  on  the  "  morrow "  is  related  by  another,  a 
nameless  Christian  friend  of  Perpetua,  who  was  specially  asked 
by  her  to  write  down  for  the  edification  of  others  the  story 
of  the  long  looked-for  death  struggle  with  the  wild  beasts. 
It  was  "bound  up,"  so  to  speak,  in  the  little  volume  which 
contained  the  recital  of  Perpetua  and  the  short  bit  by  Saturus, 
the  whole  under  the  title  of  "  The  Passion  of  Perpetua."  The 
same  hand  which  wrote  the  little  preface  tells  us  the  story 
of  what  happened  in  the  Amphitheatre.  He  prefaces  his 
supplementary  recital  with  considerable  solemnity.  It  is  an 
admirable  piece  of  composition,  the  Avork  evidently  of  a  trained 
scholar,  but  of  a  scholar,  some  think,  belonging  apparently  to 
the  Montanist  school  of  Christian  thoughtt  This,  however, 
is  by  no  means  proved.  It  has  been  seriously  ascribed  to 
Tertullian*  himself. 

*  So  Prof.  J.  Armitage  Robinson,  who  maintains  that  the  whole  character 
of  the  composition  points  to  Tertullian  as  its  author ;  and  considers  it  "in  the 
highest  degree  probable  that  we  have  in  the  beautiful  '  Martyrdom  '  a  genuine 
addition    to    the    hitherto    recognised    works    of    the    great   master." — Texts   and 


A    CHAPTER    OF   MARTYlWOAfS.  207 

The  day  of  their  victory  dawned  at  last,  and  the  condemned 
procession  marched  from  the  prison  to  the  theatre  as  though 
the  march  was  to  Heaven ;  cheerful,  Avith  beaming  counten- 
ances, excited  somewhat,  but  with  feelings  of  joy  rather  than 
of  fear:  the  two  women  following  their  companions,  Perpetua 
serene,  but  with  the  gravity  of  a  young  matron,  Felicitas  pale 
and  weak  owing  to  her  recent  suffering.  At  the  Amphitheatre 
gate  the  officials  wished  to  vest  the  men  with  the  dress  of 
the  priests  of  Saturn,  and  the  women  with  the  insignia  of 
the  priestesses  of  Ceres,  as  the  terrible  show  would  gain  in 
dramatic  picturesqueness  if  the  chief  actors  in  it  Avere  thus 
arrayed.  But  the  victims  earnestly  remonstrated  against  the 
injustice  of  such  a  mockery. 

Dying  of  their  own  free  will  because  they  would  have  no 
part  in  idolatry,  they  urged  it  was  an  illegal  act  to  force  them 
to  put  on  vestments  which  belonged  to  rites  they  abhorred, 
and  for  the  refusal  to  share  in  which  they  were  about  to  die. 
The  tribune  in  charge  listened  to  them,  and  refrained  from 
this  last  hateful  insult. 

Perpetua  kept  singing  Psalms  and  spoke  not  a  word.  The 
men,  when  they  passed  before  the  seat  of  the  Roman 
magistrate,  thus  apostrophised  him,  "  You  are  our  Judge ; 
God  will  be  yours."  The  people  cried  out  that  they  should  be 
scourged  as  a  preliminary.    This  cruel  request  was  complied  with. 

Then  the  wild  beasts  were  loosed.  Revocatus  and  Saturn- 
inus  were  attacked  first  by  a  leopard  and  eventually  torn  by 
a  bear."^  Saturus  lived  longest.  The  beasts  at  first  refrained 
from  tearing  him ;  a  wild  boar  which,  it  was  hoped,  would 
cruelly  gore  him,  even  turned  furiously  on  his  keeper  instead 
of  on  the  defenceless  Christian ;  a  bear,  when  his  cage  was 
opened,  sulkily  refused  to  come  out.  Saturus,  for  a  brief 
moment  thus  respited,  in  the  interval  spoke  to  one  Pudens,t 

Studies:  The  Passion  of  S.  Fcrpctua,  jjp.  47-.'J6  ;  Cambridge,  1891.  Other 
modern  writers,  e.g.  Mgr.  Freppel  and  Allard,  simply  suggest  that  the  nameless 
.author  of  this  part  of  the  "  Passion  "  belonged  to  the  school  of  Tertuliian. 

*  One  of  the  little  company  of  six,  Secundulus,  had  died  in  prison. 

t  Allard  believes  this  soldier  to  be  identical  with  Pudens  the  martyr,  -who 
subsequently  suffered  as  a  Christian  in  one  of  the  numerous  persecutions  of  that 
iperiod  at  Carthage. — Hist,  des  Tersccutioiis,  iii.,  chap.  iii..  p.  130. 


208  EARLY    CHRTSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

a  soldier  on  guard,  who,  moved  by  his  words  and  conduct, 
had  been  kind  and  attentive  to  him  in  prison.  "  Be  quick," 
said  the  fearless  Christian,  "  and  become  a  believer,  for  the 
leopard  "  (which  Avas  about  to  be  loosed)  "  will  soon  kill  me." 
Saturus  was  no  doubt  referring  to  conversations  which  had 
taken  place  in  prison,  and  he  longed  to  see  the  kindly  soldier 
a  Christian  before  his  death  agony.  While  speaking,  the 
savage  beast  attacked  him,  giving  him  his  death  wound. 
Bathed  in  blood,  but  apparently  heedless  of  pain,  Saturus 
again  spoke  to  Pudens.  "Farewell,"  said  the  dying  soldier 
of  Christ  to  the  soldier  of  the  Emperor ;  "  remember  me." 
And  he  asked  Pudens  for  his  ring.  Pudens  gave  it ;  Saturus 
dipped  it  in  the  life-blood  streaming  from  him,  and  returned 
it.  The  martyr  then  fainted,  and  was  dragged  away  into 
the  spoliarium  outside  the  arena  where  the  victims,  if  not 
dead,  were  usually  despatched. 

We  will  turn   to    Perpetua  and   her   companion,   Felicitas. 
It  had  been  decided    to  expose   them  in   a  net  to   be   tossed 
and  gored  by  an  infuriated  cow.     The  crowd,  touched  with  a 
momentary  feeling  of  compassion,  cried  out  that  these  sufferers 
need  not  be  stripped  of  their  garments,  which  was  the  usual 
practice.     Perpetua  was  attacked   first,  and   tossed  in  the  air. 
She  fell  to  the  ground  and  in   her  heavy  fall  her  light  gar- 
ments   were   all    torn,  and  her   hair   fell  about  her  shoulders. 
The  sufferer's  first  thought  was  to  adjust  her  torn  tunic  and 
to  fasten  up  her  flowing  hair ;  then,  although  sorely  hurt,  she 
turned    to   Felicitas,  her  "  sister "    in   suffering,  who,  too,  had 
been  tossed,  and  raised  her  up.     Again  the  crowd  was  touched 
with  pity,  and  unwilling  to  look  any  longer  upon  the  torments 
endured    by  the    two   brave   women,  insisted   on    their    being 
removed  from  the  arena.     In  the  outer  court  of  the  Amphi- 
theatre   Perpetua    found   a  young   Christian   named   Rusticus, 
who  had  followed  her  to  the  games.     The  martyr  was  dazed 
with    pain   and   the    fearful   shock   she   had   experienced,  and 
asked  when  she  was  to  be   exposed  to  the   beasts.     She   had 
lost  all  remembrance  of  what  had  happened  to  her,  but  in  a 
minute  she  saw  her  wounds,  and  the  blood  streaming,  and  her 
torn  dress,  and  the  horror  of  her  situation  all  came  back  to 


FiRMAMENTVM  EST  DQMINVS  TIMEhrrrBVS    EVM  PSAla, 


Septimto  Severo  et  Caracalla  Impp 

A    PeRPETVA     ft     TZLl  CiThS   etalij  Icfliy  obicFn  dtLnia-ntxi^ 
b-  VICTOR    ei    ZEPHERINV^   PcrriAnt  Panii^'icr  occidnvtur 
C  •   LEONID  ES  tJ   BA  SILIDES    numitir 
D  -  VIR  C  O     AUicandrma  tirdarf  licjuaMe  incu  exhnaniiu*- 


THE     MARTYRDOIVl     OF     S.     PERPETUA. 

From  an  Engraving  by  G.  B.  Cavalerri  in  a  volume,   "  Ecclesia'  Militantis  Triumphi,"  1583. 


A   CHAPTER   OF    MARTYRDOMS.  209 

her ;  yet  she  said  to  Rusticus,  "  Be  strong  in  the  Faith  ;  love 
one  another."  But  the  pity  of  the  spectators  was  short  lived. 
Even  while  she  was  speaking  her  stammering  words  of  faith 
and  love,  they  shrieked  again  for  the  condemned  wounded 
ones  to  be  brought  back  into  the  arena;  after  all  they  would 
see  them  die  ! 

Once  more  the  victims  were  brought  back,  and  in  the 
sight  of  the  crowd  thirsting  for  their  blood,  the  officials, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  despatch  those  criminals  who  had  not 
been  killed  outright  by  the  beasts,  proceeded  to  complete  the 
ghastly  work.  Silent,  motionless,  they  waited  and  received 
the  stroke  of  the  executioner's  sword.  Saturus  died  first.  A 
young  gladiator  who  was  told  off  to  kill  Perpetua,  trembled 
at  his  horrible  task,  and  missed  his  stroke,  and  only  Avounded 
her  in  the  side ;  she  cried  out,  but  in  a  moment,  recoverinsr 
herself,  guided  the  hand  of  her  slayer  and  pressed  the  point 
of  the  sword  on  her  throat,  and  so  died. 

"  It  would  seem,"  says  the  pitying  narrator  of  the  scene, 
"  that  such  a  woman  could  scarcely  perish  save  by  the  exercise 
of  her  oAvn  will  and  consent." 

The  writer  of  the  little  account,  which  evidently  was  the 
work  of  an  eye-witness,  with  its  harrowing  details,  with  nothing 
of  the  supernatural  introduced,  a  simple  plain  record,  well 
written,  lucid  and  brief,  here  breaks  into  a  noble  peroration 
only  a  few  lines  long,  beginning  thus,  "0  strong  and  blessed 
martyrs;  O  truly  called  and  chosen  mto  the  glory  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

If  the  great  Tertullian,  who  lived  and  wrote  at  Carthaffe 
in  the  first  years  of  the  third  century,  was  not  the  author  of 
the  little  introduction  and  of  the  recital  of  the  last  scene  of 
the  martyrdom  epitomised  above,  he  was  at  least  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  story ;  and  in  his  celebrated  treatise  "  De 
Patientia"  draws  the  portrait  of  a  "girl  martyr,"  seemingly 
from  the  life.  "  Was  he  not  thinking  of  her  whose  one  prayer 
at  her  baptism  had  been  at  the  Spirit's  bidding  for  this  very 
brave  patience  ?  Had  he  not  in  view  the  scene  in  the  Amphi- 
theatre when  the  martyrs  shake  their  heads  at  the  Judge 
whom  God  will  judge,  and  the  noble  picture  of  Perpetua 
o 


210  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

herself,  the  bride  of  Christ,  the  darhng  of  God,  with  her 
bright  stej)  and  flashing  eye,  soon  to  find  herself  enjoying  in 
the  spirit  the  beatific  vision  before  the  time,  and  only  re- 
called to  earth  to  taste  of  pain,  and  to  point  the  clumsy  sword 
of  the  executioner  to  her  own  throat?"* 


SECTIOX    IV. — MARTYRS   OF   LYONS   AND   VIENNE,     CIRCA    A.D.    177. 

We  have  already  observed  that  there  exists  no  arranged 
and  carefully  composed  history  of  the  early  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity. In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  in  most  of  the  Epistles 
of  the  New  Testament,  are  scattered  notices  of  the  rapid 
spread  of  the  new  Faith.  From  the  scanty  reliques  of  the 
writings  of  some  of  the  chief  teachers  of  the  Gospel  we  catch 
glimpses,  more  or  less  extensive,  of  the  progress  of  the  religion 
in  different  great  centres,  especially  in  Rome  and  Jerusalem, 
in  Ephesus  and  Smyrna,  and  in  the  Syrian  Antioch ;  but  for 
the  first  century  and  a  half  after  the  Passion  and  Ascension 
of  the  Lord,  save  in  Rome,  Jerusalem,  and  Antioch,  and  some 
of  the  great  sea-board  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  we  know  little  of 
the  story  of  the  propagation  of  the  Faith.  That  its  mission- 
aries, however,  Avere  full  of  zeal,  and  that  their  early  work 
was  often  wonderfully  successful  in  other  lands  and  centres, 
we  learn  from  various  isolated  records  of  events  Avhich  have 
come  down  to  us — some  of  these  records  often  bearinsr  the  date 
of  the  last  quarter  of  the  second  century. 

Of  these  isolated  records,  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
important  reaches  us  from  the  province  of  Gaul.  It  is  a 
letter  addressed,  to  use  the  words  of  the  writer,  "  by  the 
servants  of  Christ  dwelling  at  Lyons  and  Vienne  in  Gaul 
to  those  brethren  in  Asia  and  Phrygia  having  the  same  faith 
and  hope  with  us."     The  letter  is  of  unquestioned  authenticity,t 

*  Texts  and  Studies  :  The  Passion  of  S.  Fciyctua.  By  Prof.  J.  Armitfige 
Kobinson,  Cambridge,  1891,  p.  58. 

t  The  text  of  most  of  the  original  letter  is  contained  in  Eusebius  {H.  E., 
V.  i.,  2,  3),  and  is  also  in  Rufinus'  Latin  version  of  Eusebius'  History.  It  is 
also  afterwards  referred  to  in  the  writings  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  by  Ado, 
by  Bede,  etc. 


A   GH AFTER    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  211 

and  is  of  very  considerable  length.  It  relates  the  history  of  a 
terrible  crisis  through  which  the  Churches  in  that  populous 
district  had  just  passed,  and  out  of  which,  notwithstanding 
the  awful  trial  to  which  a  large  group  of  some  of  their 
prominent  members  had  been  subjected,  they  had  emerged 
unconquered  and  victorious. 

The  letter  was  written  shortly  after  a.d.  177,  when  the 
Emperor  Marcus  was  reigning.  Up  to  this  time  there  is 
absolutely  no  record  of  Christianity  in  Gaul,  no  sign  even  that 
the  news  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  had  crossed  the  Alps  into 
the  great  Gallic  provinces ;  but  this  epistle  lifts  the  veil  and 
breaks  the  silence  which  had  hitherto  rested  over  the  Church 
of  the  provinces  of  Southern  Gaul,  and  from  the  details 
contained  in  the  communication  we  find  that  a  large  and 
flourishing  community  must  have  for  many  years  before 
A.D.  177  existed  in  these  parts.  In  other  words,  we  have 
here  in  this  contemporary  record  the  earliest  extant  notice 
of  Christianity  in  Gaul,  and  the  record  in  question  bears 
indeed  a  striking  testimony  to  the  vitality  and  to  the  careful 
organisation  of  the  Churches  in  this  province. 

Lyons,  the  scene  of  the  persecution  sjDoken  of  in  the 
letter,  was  perhaps  the  most  important  of  the  provincial 
cities  of  the  Western  Roman  Emphe.  Its  commanding 
situation  at  the  junction  of  the  rivers  Saone  and  Rhone 
designated  it  as  a  great  commercial  emporium,  and  at  the 
time  when  Marcus  was  Emperor  it  was  the  civil  and  religdous 
metropolis  of  the  many  cities  of  the  three  Gallic  provinces. 
In  common  with  other  famous  provincial  centres,  it  was 
enthusiastically  devoted  to  the  worship  of  "  Rome  and 
Augustus,""^  recognising  its  connection  with  Rome  and  the 
Empire  as  the  source  of  its  grandeur,  its  prosperity  and 
security. 

Alongside  of  the  Pagan  population  of  Lyons,  Vienne,  and 
other  south  Gallic  cities,  had  gro^wn  up,  probably  during  the 
last  hah'  of  the  second  century,  flourishing  communities  be- 
longing to  the  new  Faith.     We  can  in  the  light  of  the  letter 

*  See  the  remarks  on  this  devotion  of  provincial  cities  to  the  worship  of 
■"Rome  and*  Augustus  "  in  Chapter  VII.,  §  3. 


212  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

easily  discern  whence  came  the  beginnings  of  these  Christian 
communities.  Between  Southern  Gaul  and  the  sea-board  of 
Syria  and  Asia  Minor  existed  close  and  frequent  communica- 
tion. The  commercial  relations  were  intimate,  and  there  was 
a  constant  passing  to  and  fro  from  cities  like  Ephesus  and 
Smyrna  to  the  chief  commercial  emporium  of  Gaul,  Lyons. 
Thither  in  the  second  century  the  story  of  the  Gospel  was 
brought  from  Asia  Minor.  The  fact  of  the  Gallic  Christians 
now  addressing  their  brethren  in  Asia  Minor  shows  how  close 
were  the  ties  which  connected  the  Gallic  and  Asiatic  Churches. 
The  Greek  names,  too,  of  many  of  the  principal  heroes  of  the 
story  point  to  the  same  conclusion. 

Among  these  heroes,  Pothinus,  the  aged  Bishop  of  Lyons, 
was  conspicuous.  Pothinus  was  more  than  ninety  years  old 
when  he  suffered.  Tradition  speaks  of  him  as  a  native  of 
Asia  Minor;  of  two  of  the  sufferers,  it  is  incidentally  stated 
that  one  was  from  Pergamos,  the  other  a  Phrygian,  while 
nearly  all  of  them  bear  Greek  names.  The  most  prominent 
figure  in  the  Church  of  Lyons  and  Southern  Gaul,  who,  im- 
mediately after  the  events  related  in  the  letter,  appears  as- 
perhajDs  the  most  distinguished  personality  in  the  Catholic 
Church,  was  Irenasus,  who  succeeded  the  aged  martyr  Pothinus 
as  Bishop  of  Lyons.  Ireniseus  had  been  a  disciple  of  Polycarp, 
and  in  our  sketch  of  the  life  of  the  great  Bishop  of  Smyrna 
we  have  already  quoted  some  of  his  reminiscences  of  his 
revered  master.  Possibly  owing  to  his  absence  from  Lyons 
at  this  juncture,  Irenseus,  in  spite  of  his  influential  position 
among  the  Christians  of  the  province,  was  not  one  of  the 
accused  Avhose  storj^  the  letter  contains.  This  letter  we  will 
briefly  summarise. 

In  the  case  of  the  persecution  of  Lyons,  the  exciting  cause 
was  angry  popular  clamour,  so  common  in  the  earlier  years 
of  the  growth  of  the  Faith.  A  great  festal  gathering  was 
arranged  in  the  August  of  a.d.  177  at  Lyons,  the  civil  and 
religious  metropolis  of  Gaul.  It  was  partly  commercial ;  a 
large  fair  was  being  held  to  which  traders  came  from  a  dis- 
tance; an  imposing  religious  ceremony  of  which  the  Temple 
of  "  Home    and    Augustus "  was    the  central  shrine,  was   part 


A   GRAFTER    OF  MARTYRDOMS.  213 

ot  the  festival;  and  public  games  in  the  Amphitheatre,  as 
usual  of  a  bloody  and  cruel  nature,  were  to  be  celebrated  for 
the  populace,  ever  greedy  of  such  amusements.  The  cry  of 
"  Death  to  the  Christians  ! "  was  generally  heard.  The  populace 
insisted  on  a  number  of  prominent  and  well-known  Christians 
beinsr  arrested  ;  well  aware  were  these  turbulent  and  factious 
rioters  of  the  doom  which  would  almost  certainly  follow  such 
arrests. 

By  no  means  Avillingly,  it  Avould  seem,  did  the  Imperial 
magistrates  of  Lyons  yield  to  these  popular  clamours.  As  a 
rule,  the  mob  pressed  for  victims  to  be  selected  out  of  the 
hated  sect,  the  magistrates  being  generally  reluctant  to  satisfy 
them.  Their  reluctance  seems  to  have  proceeded  from  no 
love  for  Christianity,  but  was  simply  based  on  reasons  of 
policy.  Their  statesmanlike  mstincts  told  them  that  these 
persecutions  were,  on  the  whole,  dangerous  to  the  established 
state  of  things  in  the  Empire,  and  rather  advanced  than 
retarded  the  progress  of  the  dangerous  and  proscribed  sect. 
If  the  accused  Christians  apostatised  and  publicly  sacrificed 
to  the  genius  of  "Augustus  and  Rome,"  or  to  any  other  of 
the  prominent  gods  of  Rome,  it  was  well.  Thus  a  blow  was 
undoubtedly  struck  at  Christianity ;  it  helped  to  discredit  the 
dangerously  advancing  religion.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  Christians  stood  lirm,  and  resisted  alike  blandishments 
and  threats,  as  was  by  far  the  more  common  result,  then  the 
tortures  and  the  horrible  scenes  which  followed  enormously 
helped  the  Christian  cause.  The  martyr's  death  was  not 
only  a  victory  for  the  poor  brave  sufferer;  but  was  a  public 
demonstration  of  the  earnestness  and  steadfastness,  of  the 
intense  silent  faith,  which  lived  among  these  stubborn  adver- 
saries of  Paganism  and  of  Imperial  idolatry. 

The  beginning  of  the  Lyons  persecution  was  unfavourable 
for  the  accused.  Ten  of  the  arrested  were  terror-stricken  at 
what  lay  before  them  and  consented  to  abjure  their  faith. 
A  fresh  departure  was  made  in  this  persecution  ;  a  number  of 
slaves  belonging  to  Christian  families  Avere  threatened  with 
torture,  and,  thus  terrorised,  charo^ed  the  Christians  with  all 
manner   of  nameless   crimes ;    the  rage   of  the    populace    was 


214  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Still  further  inflamed  by  these  accusations,  none  of  which, 
however,  appeared  to  have  been  pressed,  the  baselessness  of 
such  charges  being  too  well  laio^vn.  Nothing,  however,  was 
omitted  in  this  wild  tempest  of  persecution  which  might 
induce  recantation;  but  with  the  exception  of  the  ten  above 
mentioned,  no  torments,  no  threats,  seemed  to  have  moved 
any  of  the  accused.  They  were  scourged  and  exposed  to  wild 
beasts.  Lions  and  tigers  were  not  easily  procured,  and  the 
cost  of  importing  them  would  have  been  too  great  for  a 
provincial  city,  even  of  the  importance  of  the  capital  of  South 
Gaul.  But  bulls  and  dogs  and  wild  boars  were  used  to  gore 
and  injure  the  sufierers.  This  accounts  for  the  appearance  on 
more  than  one  occasion  of  several  of  the  Lyons  martyrs  in 
the  Amphitheatre  in  the  course  of  these  games.  They  were 
hurt  and  torn  and  bruised,  but  not  killed.  If  possible,  the 
tortures  they  endured  were  even  greater  than  those  of  ex- 
posure to  the  deadly  rush  of  a  lion  or  a  leopard 

An  apparently  favourite  and  horrible  device  we  read  of  in 
this  recital ;  a  red-hot  chair  was  introduced  and  the  accused 
made  to  sit  on  it,  the  fumes  of  the  roasted  flesh  giving  fresh 
pleasure  to  the  jaded  passions  of  the  cruel  spectators. 

The  heroism  of  the  Lyons  martyrs  was  not  peculiar  to 
rank  or  degree,  or  sex  or  age.  The  same  splendid  faith 
lived  in  them  all  alike.  Among  their  numbers  were  men  of 
good  position  and  fortune.  Deacons  of  the  Church,  the  saintly 
aged  Bishop,  the  boy  Ponticus,  only  fifteen  years  old,  the  poor 
young  slave  girl,  Blandina.  This  last,  by  her  almost  super- 
human endurance  of  long  and  protracted  agonies,  spread  over 
several  days,  has  acquired  a  peculiar  place  of  eminence  even 
among  the  tens  of  thousands  who,  in  many  lands,  willingly 
and  joyfully  gave  up  their  lives  rather  than  deny  their  Master. 
The  letter,  with  a  charming  frankness,  tells  us  how  the  Chris- 
tian mistress  of  Blandina  feared  for  her  little  slave  girl ;  her 
frail  bod}',  she  thought,  never  could  endure  severe  pain  and 
mortal  suffering,  and  in  consequence  she  would  be  moved  to 
recant.  But  Blandina's  mistress  miscalculated  what  strength 
the  love  of  Christ  would  infuse  into  the  delicate  child-frame ; 
scourged,  burnt,  torn,  Blandina  uttered  no  complaint  or  moan. 


A   CH AFTER    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  215 

only  repeating  again  and  again,  "  I  am  a  Christian."  The 
savage  servants  of  the  arena,  accustomed  to  these  scenes  of 
blood  and  torture,  confessed  themselves  astonished  at  the 
girl's  endurance  of  various  punishments,  any  one  of  which,  they 
thought,  would  have  sufficed  to  kill  her.  In  the  end  she  was 
tossed  by  a  bull  several  times,  till  all  consciousness  of  suffer- 
ing was  lost,  and  the  pure  heroic  spirit  of  the  child-martyr 
had  probably  left  the  lacerated  body  before  the  sword  of  the 
executioner  completed  the  work  of  the  bull. 

But  the  noble  example  was  never  forgotten.  It  was  the 
after  effect  of  such  scenes  as  these  that  the  wiser  and  more 
thoughtful  of  the  Roman  magistrates  dreaded,  when  they 
hesitated  before  sanctioning  a  general  and  public  persecution. 

Indeed,  in  the  course  of  the  Lyons  trials  the  Imperial 
magistrate  sent  a  despatch  to  the  Emperor  Marcus  for  special  in- 
structions ;  since  some  of  the  accused,  as  we  have  seen,  recanted, 
while  others  claimed  the  privilege  of  Roman  citizenship,  which 
would  protect  them  from  public  exposure  in  the  arena.  The 
answer  came  at  once.  The  Roman  citizens,  if  they  persisted,, 
were  to  be  simply  decapitated,  while  those  who  recanted  were: 
to  be  at  once  set  at  liberty.  The  others,  if  they  stiU  refused 
to  sacrifice,  were  to  be  exposed  to  the  horrors  of  the  arena. 

But  as  regards  those  who  recanted,  the  tardy  Imperial 
mercy  which  ordered  their  immediate  hberation  came  too 
late.  In  prison,  the  little  group  who,  overcome  with  fear, 
had  not  been  faithful  unto  death,  had  fallen  under  the  influence 
of  the  brave  confessors ;  the  conduct  of  these  steadfast  ones 
in  prison  matched  well  with  their  behaviour  in  court.  They 
oven  refused  the  title  of  confessors  in  their  beautiful  humility, 
deeming  themselves  unworthy  of  the  high  title  of  honour. 
In  the  striking  words  of  the  letter  of  the  Church  of  Lyons, 
"  They  pleaded  for  all,  they  accused  none,  they  absolved  all, 
they  bound  none,  they  prayed  for  their  bitter  foes,  ,  .  .  they 
arrogated  no  superiority  over  the  poor  backsliders."  The 
result  of  their  conduct  and  loving  advice  was  that  scarcely 
one  among  those  who  had  recanted  was  found  who  would 
accept  the  Emperor's  clemency ;  they  well-nigh  all  preferred 
rather  to  die  with  their  brave  companions. 


216  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

In  the  long  extract  of  tliis  letter  preserved  in  Eusebius 
(H.  E.,  V.  i.,  2,  3,  4),  only  a  very  few  names  of  the  martyrs 
of  Lyons  are  given,  just  those  who  were  especially  prominent 
in  the  tragedy.  "  Why,"  asks  the  historian,  "  should  we  here 
transcribe  the  list  of  those  martyrs  ?  Their  names,"  he  adds, 
"may  be  learned  if  the  epistle  be  consulted."  They  are,  how- 
ever, given  by  martyrologists  "^  who  wrote  later,  and  no  doubt 
copied  them  from  the  original  document  which  was  still 
extant.  The  numbers  appear  to  have  been  about  forty- 
eight.  The  fury  of  the  people,  however,  was  not  satiated  by 
the  death  of  the  noble  victims.  Their  remains  were  savagely 
burned  by  the  mob  and  the  ashes  cast  into  the  Rhone.  Men 
thought  that  by  this  destruction  of  the  poor  remains  the 
hope  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  which  had  buoyed  up 
these  obstinate  Christians  and  had  enabled  them  to  meet 
death  even  with  joy,  would  be  shown  to  be  mere  folly. 

The  persecution  raged  on  with  especial  fury  in  Gaul  for 
many  years,  but  the  Acts  of  Martyrdom  telling  the  story  of 
the  fate  of  many  other  confessors  are  not,  like  the  letter  we 
have  been  using,  contemporaneous.  General  tradition,  however, 
the  authenticity  of  which  we  see  no  reason  to  doubt,  places 
the  death  of  the  eminent  confessors,  whose  memory  is  still 
enshrined  in  many  of  the  great  churches  of  this  part  of 
France,  in  the  later  years  of  the  Emperor  Marcus;  such  as 
S.  Benignus  of  Dijon,  S.  Valentine  of  Tournus,  S.  Marcel  ot 
Chalons,  S.  Felix  of  Sauliers,  S.  Symphorian  of  Autun. 

SECTION    v. — ROME   IN   THE    LATTER   YEARS   OF   MARCUS. 

After  the  long  extracts  from  the  letter  relating  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  martyrs  of  Lyons  and  Vienne  in  Gaul,  Eusebius 
{H.  E.,  v.  ii.)  wrote  as  follows :  '  "  Such  were  the  occurrences 
that  befell  the  Churches  of  Christ  under  the  above-men- 
tioned Emperor  (Marcus),  from  which  it  is  easy  to  conjecture 
what  was  the  probable  course  of  things  in  the  remaining 
provinces."  Now  Ave  have  already  given  a  typical  instance  of 
the   condition  of  things  with  the   Christians  at   Rome  at  the 

•■  The  "  jMartyrology  "  of  Jerome,  Gregory  of  Tours,  and  Ado. 


A   CHAPTER    OF   MARTYRDOMS.  217 

iDeginning  of  Marcus'  reign,  circa  a.d.  162,  in  the  picture 
drawn  from  the  Acts  of  the  trial  and  martyrdom  of  S. 
Fehcitas  and  her  sons.  We  will  dwell  for  a  brief  space  on 
the  position  of  Christians  in  the  metropolis  of  the  Roman 
world  some  seventeen  years  later,  when  the  reign  of  Marcus, 
the  noblest  of  the  Pagan  Emperors,  was  drawing  to  an 
end,  circa  a.d.  177-9. 

Our  picture  here  is  based  upon  "The  Acts  of  S.  Cecilia," 
a    document    in    its    present    form   not   older   than   the   fifth 

■  century,  containing  many  manifest  inaccuracies.  These  "Acts" 
have  generally  been  looked  upon  by  critics  as  largely  mythical 
and  not  belonging  to  serious  history.  Late  investigations, 
however,   and   especially   the   discoveries   of  De   Rossi   in    the 

■  cemetery  of  S.  Callistus,  in  a  strange  way  confirm  in  substance 
the  accuracy  of  the  recital  in  these  "  Acts,"  and  we  can  now 
with  some  confidence  restore  the  "  Acts  of  S.  Cecilia "  to  their 
primitive  form.  They  give  us  a  vivid  picture  of  the  condition 
of  Christians  of  the  higher  ranks  of  Rome  in  the  last  years 
of  Marcus. 

The  original  story  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  "  Acts  " 
was  as  follows :  Cecilia,  a  girl  of  the  highest  rank,  was  married 
to  a  young  patrician,  Valerian,  who,  with  his  brother,  Tiburtius, 
through  her  influence  became  devoted  Christians.  The  State 
policy  at  this  period  of  persecution  threw  every  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  separate  interment  for  members  of  the  Christian 
sect  who  had  suffered  martyrdom.  It  was  the  passionate  wish 
of  Christians,  as  we  know  from  the  evidence  of  the  Catacombs, 
to  preserve  intact  and  separate  from  the  heathen  dead  the 
remains  of  their  loved  friends;  the  bodies  of  martyrs  for  the 
Faith  being  peculiarly  precious  in  their  eyes. 

The  brothers  Tiburtius  and  Valerian  seem  to  have  been 
especially  zealous  in  arranging  for  such  interments.  It  was 
a  well-known  loving  work  of  charity  among  the  wealthier 
members  of  the  Christian  community  to  provide  sepulchres 
for  their  poorer  brethren.  Not  a  few  of  the  more  ancient 
crypts  or  catacombs  were  in  the  first  instance  excavated  beneath 
the  gardens  of  the  villas  of  rich  Christians.  Busied  in  this 
pious  work,  they  were  denounced  by  informers,  were  arrested, 


218  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

and  on  their  refusal  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods  were  condemned 
and  beheaded ;  and  along  with  them  an  Imperial  officer, 
Maximus,  who  was  converted  by  the  noble  brothers. 

Cecilia  caused  the  three  martyrs  to  be  interred  in  a  crypt 
belonging  to  her  family  in  the  cemetery  or  catacomb  of 
Praetextatus  on  the  Appian  Way.  Cecilia  herself  was  next 
denounced  and  arrested,  tried  and  condemned.  The  magistrate, 
out  of  consideration  for  her  exalted  rank,  condemned  her  to 
die  in  her  oAvn  house  in  the  Trastevere^  district  of  the  city. 
We  have  many  instances  under  the  Emperors  of  the  punish- 
ment of  death  in  the  case  of  persons  of  fortune  and  of  high 
birth  being  carried  out  in  the  houses  of  the  condemned. 
These  were,  of  course,  mostly  political  offenders.  The  sentence 
was  that  she  should  be  shut  up  in  the  caldarium,  or  room  of  the 
warm  bath  of  the  house,  and  that  the  pipes  should  be  heated 
to  such  a  degree  as  to  cause  suffocation. 

But  after  the  expiration  of  a  day  and  night  Cecilia  wa& 
found  still  alive.  It  needs  no  special  miracle  to  explain 
this,  means  of  ventilation  in  the  caldarium  having  been 
no  doubt  arranged  by  her  friends.  A  lictor  was  then  ap- 
pointed to  carry  out  the  capital  sentence  by  striking  off  her 
head. 

This  work  seems  to  have  been  inefficiently  performed,  and 
for  tAvo  days  she  survived  the  wounds  inflicted  by  the  exe- 
cutioner, and  was  even  able  to  speak  words  of  encouragement 
and  consolation  to  her  friends.  To  the  bishop  of  the  Roman 
community,  Urban,  she  is  said  to  have  made  a  present  of  her 
house  as  a  church.  It  has  been  a  church  ever  since,  and  is 
now  the  well-known  basilica  of  S.  Cecilia.  Placed  in  a  coffin 
of  cypress  wood,  in  the  attitude  in  which  she  expired,  she 
was  laid  in  one  of  the  chambers  of  her  own  cemetery  on  the 
Appian  Way. 

As  we  have  observed,  there  are  various  inaccuracies  in 
the  "  Acts,"  due  to  the  fifth  century  revision ;  but  in  the 
main    the    recital     is     evidently     historical.       For     instance, 

*  This  is  the  well-known  name  for  that  portion  of  Rome  situated  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Tiber,  the  old  city  being  built  on  the  left  bank.  So  on  the  "  Trastevere  ''' 
side  was  the    Vatican  suburb. 


<  ._ 

5  - 

LU  = 

O  3_ 

"5  ^ 

U-  -^ 

o  - 


A   CHAPTER    OF   MABTYllDOMS.  219 

Urban  *  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  is  stated  to  have  buried  the 
noble  martyrs  in  a  chamber  near  his  own  colleagues  the  bishops. 
This  is  only  partly  true.  De  Rossi  has  indeed  found  the 
grave  of  S.  Cecilia  in  a  sepulchral  chamber  only  separated 
by  a  slender  wall  from  the  famous  "  Papal  Crypt "  where  the 
bishops  of  Rome  of  the  third  century  were  buried.  But  Cecilia 
was  laid  there  before  the  Popes  of  the  third  century,  in  the 
sepulchral  area  belonging  to  her  noble  house,  which  area 
was  shortly  afterwards  made  over  to  the  Church,  and  many 
of  the  bishops  of  Rome  were  subsequently  buried  in  it. 

In  the  removal  of  a  vast  number  of  Christian  remains 
from  the  catacombs  to  the  Roman  Churches,  circa  a.d.  822, 
Pope  Paschal  translated  the  body  of  S.  Cecilia  to  her  church 
in  the  Trastevere  district  which  occupied  the  site  of  her 
house.  In  the  tradition  t  preserved,  the  martyr's  body,  wrapped 
in  the  original  robe,  embroidered  with  gold,  and  still  lying  in 
the  same  posture,  was  reverently  placed  with  her  cypress  wood 
coffin  in  a  vv'hite  marble  sarcophagus  beneath  the  altar  of  the 
church.  In  the  year  1599  Cardinal  Sfondrati,  in  the  course 
of  a  restoration  of  the  building,  found  two  marble  sarcophagi 
beneath  the  altar.  In  the  presence  of  Cardinal  Baronius,  the 
well-known  scholar,  the  expert  Bosio,  and  others,  an  examination 
of  the  contents  of  these  sarcophagi  was  made.  In  one  of  them 
the  body  of  S.  Cecilia  was  found,  still  in  the  same  traditional 
attitude.  The  sculptor  Maderna,  who  was  one  of  the  eye- 
witnesses when  the  sarcophagus  was  opened,  has  reproduced 
in  marble  the  figure  of  Cecilia  as  he  says  he  saw  her  lying  there. 
The  present  altar  now  stands  over  the  tomb,  and  the  beautiful 
statue  of  Maderna  is  beneath  it.  J 

*  The  date  of  Urban's  episcopate  was  a.d.  223.  There  appears,  however, 
to  have  been  another  Urban,  a  bishop  of  some  place  unknown,  who  was 
connected  with  S.  Cecilia  and  her  family.  This  Urban  was  buried  in  the 
cemetery  of  Prretextatus. 

t  It  is  Pope  Paschal  who  tells  the  story,  as  well  as  his  contemporary  biographer, 
the  continuator  of  the  liber  Fontijicalis,  Ed.  Duchesne,  torn,  ii.,  p.  .'i6,  Allard,  Hist, 
des  Fersecutions,  vol.  i.,  \-ii.,  2,  and  see  Xorthcote,  Eoina  Sottcrranea,  chap.  iv. 

X  The  preservation  of  the  body  of  Cecilia  is  not  by  any  means  a  solitary 
example  of  what  seems  to  be  a  strange  phenomenon.  But  is  it  not  probable  that 
a  skilful  embalming  took  place  after  Cecilia's  death  'i  Her  exalted  rank  and 
great   wealth,  and  her  high   reputation  among  the  Roman   Christians,  would  at 


"220  EARLY    CHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

In  the  other  sarcophagus  the  remains  of  three  bodies  were 
found  by  Cardinal  Sfondrati.  Two  of  these  had  manifestly 
been  beheaded,  whilst  the  skull  of  the  third  was  broken,  and 
the  abundant  hair  upon  it  had  been  evidently  thickly  matted 
with  blood.  It  was  as  though  the  sufferer  had  been  beaten 
to  death  by  the  leaden  scourges,  not  infrequently  used  as 
instruments  of  capital  punishment ;  tradition,  preserved  in  the 
Liher  Pontificalis,  tells  us  that  the  three  bodies  of  the  martyrs. 
Valerian  Cecilia's  husband,  Tiburtius  his  brother,  and  Maximus 
the  Roman  officer,  had  been  translated  from  the  Catacomb  of 
S.  Prfetextatus  to  the  church  of  S.  Cecilia,  by  Pope  Paschal. 

The  plain  unvarnished  account  of  the  discovery  of  the 
first  resting-place  of  S.  Cecilia  by  De  Rossi,  who  spent  long 
years  in  his  great  work  of  investigating  certain  of  the  cata- 
combs, is,  of  course,  too  long  for  insertion.  We  will  give, 
however,  a  summary  of  it.  Guided  in  his  search  by  careful 
study  of  the  ancient  Pilgrims'  Itineraries,  by  notices  in  the 
Liber  Pontificalis,  and  other  documents,  he  came  upon  the 
original  place  of  sepulchre  of  the  famous  martyr.  His  de- 
scription is  most  exhaustive.  He  has  traced  the  signs 
still  existing  in  that  sacred  crypt,  of  the  veneration  of  pilgrims 
stretching  over  several  centuries.  All  these  pieces  of  evidence 
— De  Rossi's  discovery  of  the  place  of  the  original  interment ; 
the  account  of  Pope  Paschal's  work  in  connection  with  the 
translation  of  S.  Cecilia's  body  in  the  early  years  of  the  ninth 
century  ;  the  singular  confirmation  of  the  details  of  the  work  of 
Paschal  by  the  re-discovery  of  the  two  sarcophagi,  in  the  Basilica 
of  Cecilia  in  the  year  1599,  by  Cardinal  Sfondrati — have 
justified  us  in  citing  the  "  Acts  of  S.  Cecilia,"  the  chief  features  of 
which,  accurate  in  all  material  points,  are  now  fairly  established. 
From  these  "  Acts  "  thus  supported,  we  have  drawn  a  pic- 
ture"^ of  a  group  of  martyrdoms  to  illustrate  the  condition  of 

all  events  seem  to  suggest  this.  The  recital  of  the  finding  of  the  bodj'  when 
Pope  Paschal  translated  the  remains  in  the  ninth  century  has  all  the  appearance  of 
being  a  true  narrative,  and  the  accuracy  of  the  story  of  the  opening  of  the 
sarcophagus  by  Sfondrati,  eight  centuries  later,  in  the  presence  of  such  men  as 
Baronius,  Bosio,  and  Maderna,  can  scarcely  be  questioned. 

*  "  We  have  already  acknowledged  that  the  '  Acts  of  S.  Cecilia,'  as  we  now 
possess  them,  are  not  genuine,  and  yet  we  have  seen  that  in  substance  their 
accuracy  has  been  marvellously  confirmed  by  all  that  has  since  been  discovered. 


A    CHAPTER    OF    MAETYBDOMS.  221 

Christians   of  the   highest   rank   at   Rome   in   the  latter  years 
of  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Marcus. 

The  death  of  S.  Cecilia  and  her  friends  closes,  as  far  as 
any  public  records  guide  us,  the  tale  of  deaths  for  the  Faith 
during  the  days  of  Marcus,  in  the  Imperial  City.  There  is 
little  doubt  that  the  examples  we  have  given  of  these  per- 
secutions at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  reign  only  too 
faithfully  represent  the  conditions  under  which  Christians 
lived  at  Rome  all  through  the  reign  of  the  noblest  of  the 
Pagan  Emperors  ;  the  sword  ever  suspended  above  their  heads, 
and  frequently  falling,  now  on  representatives  of  the  patrician 
order,  like  Felicitas  and  her  sons,  and  Cecilia  with  her  husband 
and  his  brother,  now  on  the  trader,  the  freedman  and  the 
slave,  whose  names  are  unwritten  save  in  the  Book  of  God's, 
record  of  His  own. 

The  number  of  martyrs  at  Rome  in  the  various  seasons, 
of  persecutions  was  very  great.  In  a  corner  of  the  Papal 
Crypt,  for  instance,  adjoining  the  burial  chamber  of  Cecilia, 
there  is  a  pit  of  extraordinary  depth,  where  a  tradition,  pre- 
served in  one  of  the  ancient  itineraries,  speaks  of  800  bodies 
of  these  martyrs  being  buried  together.  If  this  tradition  be 
a  true  one,  it  refers  probably  to  a  fierce  onslaught  on  the 
Christian  community  in  the  reign  of  Marcus  ;  for  the  Papa. 
Crypt  only  a  few  years  later  became  a  burying  place  of  ex- 
traordinary sanctity,  mainly  reserved  for  the  bishops  of  Rome,, 
and  was  not  used  any  longer  for  ordinary  interments. 

The  truth  is  that  the  monuments  discovered  in  the  Catacombs  and  in  the  Tras- 
tevere  Church  almost  enable  us  to  restore  the  '  Acts '  to  their  primitive  form.  The 
'  Acts '  of  S.  Cecilia,  as  they  have  come  down  to  us,  cannot  lay  claim  to  any 
higher  antiquity  than  the  fifth  century,  but  recent  discoveries  have  proved  that 
they  are  unquestionably  true  in  all  the  chief  features  and  in  many  even  of  their 
minutest  details."  Dr.  Northcote,  chap,  iv.,  in  his  account  of  Investigations  of  De 
Rossi;  see,  too,  De  Rossi,  Boma  Sotterranea,  ii.,  p.  145-6,  160-244,  etc. ;  Baronius, 
A7in.  Eccle.,  ad.  ami.,  821,  12,  19;  Bosio,  Sist.  Passionis  S.  Ceeiliae,  p.  155-170. 

"  Le  recit  des  Actes  (de  S.  Cecile)  contestable  pour  tout  ce  qui  releve  de- 
I'imagination  ou  de  la  science  historique  du  narrateur,  mais  exact  dans  les 
circonstances  materielles,  qu'avaient  transmises  a  I'ecrivain  du  cinquieme  siecle  une 
tradition  precise  ou  des  documents  ccrits,  ne  pouvait  recevoir  une  plus  eclatante 
confirmation."  .  .  .  .  "  Rarement  un  document  de  cette  nature  a  subi  une  epreuve 
plus  concluante,  et  en  est  sorti  mieux  justifie."  Allard,  Hisioire  des  Persecutioris,. 
vol,  i.,  chap,  vii.,  2. 


222 


CHAPTER  X. 

AFTER   THE    ANTONINES, 

SECTION    I. — CHRISTIANITY   AT   THE   CLOSE   OF   THE    SECOND 

CENTURY. 

It  was  probably  in  the  first  or  second  year  following  the 
martyrdom  of  S.  Cecilia  that  the  great  Emperor  Marcus  died. 
He  was  followed  by  his  unworthy  son,  Commodus,  who  in- 
herited none  of  his  father's  noble  qualities.  Indeed,  he  has 
been  not  unjustly  styled  a  gladiator  rather  than  an  emperor. 
His  historian  tells  us  how  he  publicly  engaged  in  these 
inglorious  combats  more  than  seven  hundred  times.*  Yet, 
strange  to  say,  the  general  persecution  of  Christianity,  which 
raged,  well-nigh  all  through  the  nineteen  years  of  Marcus' 
reign,  although  by  no  means  ended,  was  much  less  severe  and 
was  less  general  in  the  evil  days  of  Commodus. 

Indeed,  Commodus  had  no  fixed  policy.  With  Marcus 
the  existence  of  the  Christians  constituted  a  real  danger  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  Empire ;  they  were  strangers  to  the 
spirit  of  Rome  and  her  gods ;  not  traitors — no  one  could 
accuse  the  Christians  of  treason  to  the  Emperor  and  his 
government — but  standing  aloof;  having  no  share  in  the 
ancient  traditions  upon  which  Marcus  and  those  who  thought 
with  him  believed  that  the  greatness  of  Rome  was  founded, 
and  on  the  maintenance  of  which,  her  future  grandeur,  nay, 
her  very  existence  as  a  world-empire,  depended.      Therefore,  the 

*  Commodus,  in  his  singular  and  degraded  passion  for  the  Amphitheatre,  was 
a  strong  contrast  to  his  father  jMarcus,  who  loathed  these  bloody  and  corrupting 
spectacles  and  made  various  but  fruitless  eiforts  to  do  away  with  them.  But  the 
fashion  was  too  deeply  rooted,  and  not  even  the  all-powerful  will  of  the  Emperor 
could  put  an  end  to  them. 


AFTER   THE  ANTONINES.  223 

philosopher  Emperor  allowed,  even  enforced,  their  persecution 
on  principle. 

His  son  Commodus,  however,  cared  little  or  nothing  for 
the  ancient  Roman  traditions.  So,  in  his  time,  the  persecu- 
tion was  intermittent ;  depending  a  good  deal  on  the  temper 
and  views  of  the  powerful  Imperial  lieutenants  who  ruled  in 
the  name  of  Rome  in  the  provinces.  There  was,  too,  at  the 
headquarters  of  the  Government  a  powerful  influence  at  work 
favourable  to  the  religion  of  Jesus.  Many  of  the  courtiers 
and  office-bearers  about  the  court  were  Christians  ;  and 
Marcia  who,  though  never  bearing  the  title  of  Empress,  was, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the  wife  of  Commodus,  and  who 
possessed  vast  influence  with  the  Emperor,  was  a  Arm  friend 
of  Christianity ;   possibly,  as  some  believe,  herself  a  Christian. 

All  this,  especially  as  time  went  on,  helped  the  hated  and 
dreaded  sect ;  and  so  the  position  of  Christians  in  the  reign 
of  this  weak  and  vacillating  Emperor  gradually  became  far 
less  precarious  than  it  had  been  under  the  rule  of  Marcus. 

In  his  earlier  years,  however,  before  the  palace  influences, 
and  especially  the  persuasions  of  Marcia,  had  been  able  to 
arrest  the  bitter  persecuting  spirit  which  had  for  so  many 
years  prevailed,  we  hear  of  these  bloody  attacks  still  harassing 
Christian  communities,  notably  in  North  Africa. 

In  that  great  and  wealthy  province,  the  religion  of  Jesus 
had  evidently  grown  up,  as  it  had  done  in  Gaul,  with  marvel- 
lous rapidity;  striking  its  roots  among  the  population  far  and 
wide.  We  have  absolutely  no  records  which  tell  us  of  its 
first  beginnings,  no  story  of  the  laying  of  the  foundation  of 
the  Faith;  only  at  the  close  of  the  second  century,  when 
Commodus  and  his  immediate  successors  were  reigfnincr,  we 
find  a  large  and  flourishing  Church  established  in  Carthage 
and  the  country  districts,  a  Church  already  elab<:)rately 
organised.  The  first  mention  we  come  upon  of  this  North 
African  Church  is  an  account  of  a  persecution  to  which  it 
was  subjected  in  the  first  days  of  the  reign  of  Commodus. 

This  onslaught  took  place  at  Madaura.  We  have  no 
details ;  only  a  few  of  the  martyrs'  names  are  preserved  to 
us,  and   those   not  Latin,  but  evidently  belonging  to   men   of 


224  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  Punic  race.  Only  a  few  days  after — according  to  later 
investigations,  in  the  August  of  the  same  year,  a.d.  180 — a 
cruel  persecution  brought  the  Roman  colony  of  Scillium,  in 
North  Africa,  into  some  prominence.  The  more  distinguished 
Christians  were  brought  to  Carthage,  were  there  formally 
charged  with  professing  the  proscribed  religion,  and  were 
condemned  and  put  to  death,  solely  because  they  persisted 
in  refusing  to  swear  by  the  genius  of  the  Emperor.  The 
Proconsul  Saturninus,  following  the  policy  pursued  by  so 
many  of  the  more  statesmanlike  among  the  higher  magis- 
trates of  the  Empire,  endeavoured  to  procure  from  them  some- 
thing of  a  recantation ;  and  offered  the  group  of  Christian 
Scillitans  a  period  of  delay,  thirty  days,  to  consider  if  they  would 
not  make  up  their  minds  to  preserve  their  lives  by  the  appa- 
rently easy  process  of  swearing  by  the  genius  of  the  Emperor. 
They  were,  however,  steadfast,  and  in  consequence  suffered  capital 
punishment.  On  being  summoned  to  swear  by  the  genius  of 
the  Emperor,  Speratus  replied,  "  I  do  not  acknowledge  the 
sovereignty  of  this  world ;  I  serve  God,  whom  no  man  hath  se€n, 
or  can  see  with  these  eyes." 

In  the  course  of  the  official  examination  Speratus,  being 
asked  what  things  (o^es)  were  preserved  in  their  chest  {capsa), 
answered,  "  The  books  and  the  letters  of  Paul  the  just  man." 
The  books  were  doubtless  the  Gospels,  the  well-known  Christian 
books.  The  "  Acts  "  end  with  the  words:  "Thus  all  were  crowned 
with  martyrdom,  and  are  reigning  with  the  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit,  through  all  the  ages  of  ages."  The  "  Acts  "  of  the 
Scillitan  martyrs''^  from  which  these  extracts  are  made,  are  looked 
upon  as  an  unmistakably  genuine  piece,  dating  from  about  the 
year  180.  The  names  of  the  martyrs  are  given.  There  were 
twelve  in  all.  The  words  of  one  of  them — Nartzalus — when  he 
heard  his  sentence,  are  worth  recording :  "  Hodie  martyres  in 
coelo  sumus ;  Deo  gratias." 

*  Allard  hus  twritcs  of  this  document :  "  Des  '  Actes '  comptes  a  bon  droit 
parmi  les  monuments  les  plus  anciens,  at  las  plus  purs  de  I'antiquite  Chretienne." — 
HUi.  des  Persicutions,  vol.  i.,  p,  446.  Compare  also  Texts  and  Sti(dics  in  the 
Appendix  on  the  Scillitan  martyrdom  {I'msion  of  S.  Perpetua),  where,  besides  a 
revised  text  of  the  "Acts,"  the  editor,  Professor  Armitage  Robinson,  gives  an 
account  of  the  various  versions,  etc.,  of  these  famous  "  Acts." 


AFTER    THE    ANTONINES.  225 

Before  summing  up  the  general  state  of  Christianity  at 
the  close  of  the  second  century,  we  would  once  more  return 
to  Asia  Minor,  and  briefly  allude  to  a  few  striking  personalities 
who  considerably  influenced  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  second  century. 

We  have  already  noticed  how  pre-eminent  among  Christian 
communities  this  great  and  important  province — or,  more 
accurately,  group  of  provinces — appears  to  have  been  in 
literary,  and  not  only  in  literary,  activity  in  the  latter  years 
of  the  first  and  during  the  first  half  of  the  second  centurj-. 
This  was  natural,  as  it  had  been  for  long  years  the  home  of 
S.  John  and  of  others  of  the  Apostles  and  first  teachers  of 
Christianity,  Paul  having  laid  the  foundations  of  the  famous 
churches.  There  had  lived  and  worked  and  \vritten  S.  John 
the  beloved  Apostle,  Andrew  and  Philip  of  the  Twelve,  and 
at  least  one  of  the  famous  disciples  of  Philip  ;  the  "  other  John," 
the  Presbyter,  Aristion,  who  had  known  the  Lord,  Papias  and 
Polycarp.  From  Asia  Minor,  once  their  home,  had  gone  forth 
into  distant  Gaul  Pothinus,  the  Martyr-Bishop  of  Lyons,  and 
the  famous  scholar,  afterwards  his  successor  in  the  See,  Irenreus. 
To  churches  of  Asia  Minor  five  of  the  seven  ever-memorable 
epistles  of  Ignatius  had  been  written,  and  a  sixth  of  these 
letters  to  Polycarp,  one  of  their  bishops.  This  region,  too,  as  has 
been  accurately  remarked,  was  "  the  hotbed  of  heresies  and  the 
arena  of  controversies."  After  the  death  of  Polycarp,  circa  a.d. 
157,  Asia  Minor  maintains  its  literary  pre-eminence  largely  o wing- 
to  the  indefatigable  activity  of  a  few  great  Christian  scholars. 

Of  these,  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis,  perhaps  holds  the  fore- 
most place.  His  work  began  before  the  middle  of  this  century, 
lie  addresses  his  apology  to  Marcus,  circ(c  a.d.  169-70,  and 
this,  Eusebius  tells  us,  was  the  latest  of  his  many  writings. 
This  scholar  bishop,  during  a  great  part  of  his  life,  must 
have  been  a  contemporary  of  S.  John's  disciple,  Polycarp, 
and  likewise  of  Papias,  who  had  conversed  with  the  disciples 
of  Christ.  He  was  therefore  a  link  with  the  past,  connected 
as  he  was  with  those  who  had  seen  and  talked  with  the 
Apostles  of  the  Lord.  Of  his  many  writings,  alas !  only  a  few 
meagre  but  precious  fragments  remain, 
p 


226  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Another  distinguished  writer  of  this  great  province, 
Claudius  Apolhnaris,  Bishop  of  Hierapohs,  was  a  contemporary 
of  Mehto,  though  a  somewhat  younger  man  ;  he  too  addressed 
an  apology  to  the  Emperor  Marcus.  Of  his  numerous  works, 
only  two  short  extracts  remain.  A  third  and  once  famous 
Church  leader  was  Polycrates,  Bishoj)  of  Ephesus,  of  whose 
letter  to  Victor  of  liome  on  the  date  of  the  keeping  of  the 
Easter  Festival,  Eusebius  has  preserved  a  solitary  but  priceless 
extract.  Although  there  remains  to  us  httle  more  than  the 
shadow  of  once  great  names  falling  on  the  page  of  Eusebius, 
we  can  form  from  passing  notices  some  idea  of  the  vigour 
and  activity  of  the  Asia  Minor  Churches  in  the  last  3^ears  of 
the  first  and  all  through  the  second  century. 

From  Asia  Minor  early  in  the  century,  as  we  have  said, 
Pothinus  went  forth  to  the  distant  and  important  province  of 
Gaul — perhaps  the  most  important  of  the  outhdng  "  Govern- 
ments" of  Kome.  As  Pothinus  was  ninety  years  old  at  the 
time  of  his  martyrdom  in  a.d.  177,  the  tradition  which  suggests 
that  he  was  sent  to  Gaul  by  Polycarp  of  Smyrna  is  quite 
possible.  There  are,  however,  many  proofs,  more  trustworthy 
than  the  comparatively  late  tradition  connected  with  Pothinus, 
which  link  the  Churches  of  Southern  Gaul  with  the  Churches 
of  Asia  Minor,  and  which  indisputably  tell  us  that  the 
former  were  the  daughter  Churches  of  the  Asian  communities 
of  which  Ave  have  been  speaking. 

(1)  Very  close  from  remote  times  w\as  the  commercial 
connection  between  the  Western  cities  of  Asia  Minor  and 
Southern  Gaul.  It  seems,  therefore,  natural  to  assume  that 
the  flourishing  Christianity  of  the  sea-board  cities  of  pro- 
consular Asia,  Smyrna,  Ephesus,  etc.,  would  follow  the  usual 
channels  of  commerce. 

(2)  The  well-known  letter,  to  which  we  have  referred  at 
some  length,  giving  the  graphic  picture  of  the  sufferings  of 
the  Christians  of  Lyons  and  Vienne  in  the  persecution  of 
A.D.  177,  was  addressed  to  "  the  Brethren  that  are  in  Asia  and 
Phrygia."     This  shows  the  closeness  of  the  ties  which  connected 

he  Christians  in  Gaul  with  the  Churches  of  Asia  Minor. 

(3)  The  most  prominent  Christian  in  the  Gallic  Churches 


AFTER    THE    ANTONINES.  227 

after  Pothinus,  the  bisliop,  was  Irentens,  who  succeeded 
Pothinus  as  Bishop  of  Lyons  A.u.  178.  Now  this  IreniEUS, 
we  know,  passed  at  least  his  youth  in  Asia  Minor,  when 
Polycarp  was  Bishop  of  Smyrna. 

We  have  ah-eady,  in  our  sketch  of  Polycarp,  quoted  Irenseus' 
touching  memories  of  his  master.  We  may  thus  regard 
IrenKus  as  a  link  between  Gaul  and  Asia.  His  training  in 
Smyrna  he  never  forgot,  alluding  to  it  on  various  occasions 
in  his  writings,  which  have  come  down  to  us. 

This  disciple  of  the  Smyrna  Church  in  his  later  life 
became  the  most  illustrious  bishop  in  Christendom.  Of  his 
career  we  possess  too  few  details  to  give  any  complete  picture. 
We  hear  of  him  in  Rome,  paying  a  long  official  visit  to 
the  great  Italian  see;  we  can  faintly  trace  his  busy  active 
work  during  a  somewhat  long  tenure  of  the  chief  Galilean  see 
of  Lyons.  A  rather  late  tradition  speaks  of  him  as  a  most 
successful  and  unwearied  preacher  of  the  Faith,  as  one  who 
rallied  round  him  in  Lyons  and  the  surrounding  districts  a 
large  and  influential  Church ;  dying,  as  Gregory  of  Tours  tells 
us,  a  martyr,  somewhere  about  a.d.  197  ;  but  over  this 
martyrdom  there  hangs  a  doubt,  as  there  is  no  mention  of 
it  by  Tertullian,  or  later  by  Eusebius. 

That  he  lived  to  the  end  of  the  second  century  is,  how- 
ever, certain.  The  traditions  and  teaching  of  the  Asia  Minor 
Churches  were  faithfully  preserved  and  taught  in  these 
daughter  Churches  of  Gaul,  notabl}^  in  respect  of  the  date  on 
which  the  Easter  Festival  should  be  kept.  Here  Irenjeus  in 
opposition  to  Rome  and  her  bishop,  followed  the  practice  of 
Asia  Minor,  presumably  derived  from  the  teaching  of  S.  John. 

But  though  details  concerning  the  years  spent  in  Gaul 
are  wanting,  as  far  as  later  ages  are  concerned,  Irenseus  v/ill 
ever  live  in  his  book,  written  against  those  many  Oriental 
heresies,  so  common  in  Asia  Minor,  which  had  naturally  found 
their  way  into  the  connected  communities  of  South  Gaul. 

This  book,  a  lengthy  treatise  divided  mto  five  books 
"  Against  Heresies,"  is  a  great  and  important  v/ork.  In  many 
respects  it  is  the  weightiest  writing  of  the  early  Church 
which  lias  been  preserved  to  us.     The  first  two  books  contain 


228  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

a  minute  description  and  a  criticism  of  various  notable 
heretical  sects,  both  Gnostic  and  Ebionite^ ;  the  remainins;- 
three  are  an  exposition  of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  as 
they  were  taught  in  the  latter  half  of  the  second  century  in 
all  the  Catholic  Churches.  From  this  writing  we  derive  many 
side-lights  upon  early  Christian  belief  and  practice,  notably 
a  clear  statement  of  the  position  which  thoughtful  Christians 
occupied  in  the  Roman  Empire ;  and  of  the  duties  and  allegi- 
ance which  they  owed  to  the  Imperial  Government  accord- 
ing to  the  teaching  of  responsible  leaders  like  Irena^us  ;  whom 
we  may  fairly  regard  as  the  depository  of  the  teaching  of 
Poh'carp  and  of  those  great  theologians  and  writers  who 
flourished  in  the  second  century  in  the  Eastern  centres  of 
Christianity  in  Asia  Minor.  In  Iremeus'  book  we  have  also 
a  clear  statement  of  the  attitude  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
circa  a.d.  190-180,  towards  the  Canonical  writings  of  the  New 
Testament. 

Here  it  may  be  safely  said  that  the  authority  which  was 
then  attributed  by  the  Christian  communities  of  Asia  and 
Gaul  to  the  four  Gospels,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the 
Epistles  of  S.  Paul,  several  of  the  Catholic  Epistles,  and  the 
Apocalypse,  falls  in  no  respect  short  of  the  authority  attri- 
buted to  these  books  in  the  fourth  or  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  Irenoeus  places  them  on  the  same  platform  as  he 
places  the  Canonical  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  citing  them 
as  Holy  Scripture  in  the  same  way,  and  attributing  them  to 
the  respective  authors  whose  names  they  bear. 

When  Irenceus  wrote,  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  second 
century,  these  books  of  the  iS'ew  Testament  were  evidently 
universally  used  and  looked  upon  as  absolutely  authoritative 
in  the  Catholic  Church;  and  this,  we  should  bear  in  mind, 
was  the  recorded  practice  of  the  Church  within  a  hundred 
years  of  the  death  of  S.  John,  and  must  have  been  so  for  at 
least  thirty  or  forty  years  before ;  for  Irenaus  clearly  learned 
his  belief  from  Polycarp,  who  was  himself  a  disciple  of  S. 
John.     The  general  reception  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testa- 

*  Sec  Appi-ndix  V. 


AFTER    THE  ANTONINES.  229 

ment  Canon  was  evidently  coincident  with  the  days  when 
men  Hved  who  had  talked  with  the  Apostles  of  the  Lord. 

On  the  subject  of  the  obedience  of  Christians  to  the 
Imperial  authority,  he  bases  his  teaching  on  the  words  of  S. 
Paul,  who  is  singularly  clear  in  his  injunction  of  the  duty 
of  Christians  to  submit  themselves  to  all  lawful  constituted 
authority;  Irenseus  even  quotes  our  Lord  as  one  who  paid 
tribute  to  the  Roman  officials  in  the  Holy  Law.  Irenceus 
Avas  a  Millenarian,  but  so,  in  fact,  were  most  of  the  Christian 
writers  of  the  second  century.  In  very  early  days  Millenarism, 
or  Chiliasm,  was  inseparably  associated  with  the  Gospel  itself. 
It  is  found  in  Justin,  in  Irenseus,  in  Tertullian  ;  but  although 
Irenseus  considered  the  Roman  Empire  as  a  temporary  ar- 
rangement of  Providence  which  would  presently  give  place 
to  the  earthly  reign  of  Christ  and  His  own,  he  never  for  one 
instant  allowed  this  "  hope,"  or  rather  expectation,  to  interfere 
with  his  teaching  of  the  inevitable  duty  of  unswerving  loyalty 
to  the  existing  powers.  He  even  dwelt  upon  the  blessings  of 
the  Roman  power,  as  giving  peace  to  the  world. 

The  germs  of  the  Creed  of  the  Catholic  Church  can  be 
traced  unmistakably  in  earlier  writers,  notably,  as  we  have 
observed,  in  the  recently-discovered  "Apology  of  Aristides," 
addressed  to  the  Emperor  Hadrian  well-nigh  half  a  century 
before  the  writing  of  Irena3us.  But  it  is  in  this  great  work 
of  the  Bishop  of  Lyons  that  we  find  the  earliest  formulated 
creed,  which  may  be  said  to  have  formed  the  basis  of  the 
Nicene  Creed,  put  out  after  the  "  Peace  of  the  Church "  was 
formally  established  by  Constantine  in  the  first  quarter  of  the 
fourth  century. 

The  full  title  of  Irenseus'  master-work  is  "  The  Refutation 
and  Overthrow  of  Knowledge  falsely  so  Called."  It  is  more 
commonly  known  and  quoted  by  the  shorter  title,  "Against 
Heresies."  Its  five  books  were  composed  and  put  out  separ- 
ately, no  doubt,  as  the  busy  active  life  of  the  great  bishop 
allowed  him  leisure.  The  composition  was  probably  spread 
over  a  number  of  years.  The  third  book  was  certainly  pub- 
lished before  a.d.  190.  The  original  Greek  has  not  as  yet 
(a.d.  1901)  been  found,  and  the  work,  as  we  now  have  it,  exists 


230  EAELY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    FAGANISM. 

only  in  <a  somewhat  barbarous  Latin  version — made  evidently 
in  very  early  times,  since  Tertullian  early  in  the  third  century 
quotes  it.  The  first  book  only,  in  the  original  Greek  form, 
is  mostly  preserved  in  the  writings  of  Hippolytus  (early  third 
century)  and  in  Eusebius.  Of  the  other  writings  of  this 
famous  scholar  bishop,  Ave  only  possess  the  titles,  and  a  few 
precious  extracts,  notably  the  one  from  the  Epistle  to  Florinus 
(above  quoted  in  our  sketch  of  Polycarp),  for  which  we  are 
indebted  to  Eusebius. 

We  have  completed,  in  our  chronicle  of  the  early  years 
of  Christianity,  the  last  quarter  of  the  second  centur}'.  We 
have  been  unable,  as  we  stated  in  our  earlier  pages,  to 
present  any  formal  history  of  the  laying  of  the  foundation 
stories  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth;  our  authentic 
materials  have  been  too  scattered  and  disjointed.  There  are 
a  few  letters,  some  even  of  considerable  length,  written  by 
persons  of  high  authority  in  the  Church ;  a  few  apologies  or 
defences  of  the  new  religion,  a  few  absolutely  reliable  stories 
of  suflferinsrs  and  death  endured  for  the  Faith's  sake,  a  few 
rare  mentions  of  Christianity  by  Pagan  writers,  an  imperial 
rescript  or  two  bearing  on  the  relations  of  Christianity  and 
the  Empire,  a  certain  number  of  inscriptions  and  religious 
emblems  in  the  ancient  cemeteries  of  the  Christians,  a  few 
later  redactions  of  the  "  Acts  "  and  "  Passions "  of  martyrs, 
from  which,  with  the  aid  of  recent  archosological  discoveries 
in  the  cemeteries  or  catacombs  of  Rome,  we  have  disentangled 
some  trustworthy  information. 

But  there  is  no  definite  or  consecutive  history.  What 
materials  we  possess  we  have  made  use  of,  and  we  have  been 
able,  from  these  scattered  and  disjointed  pieces,  the  authenticity 
of  which  is  undoubted,  to  frame  a  story  of  the  painful,  anxious 
growth  of  a  community  which  has  since  influenced  the  whole 
story  of  the  world,  Avhich  after  more  than  eighteen  centuries 
of  existence  is  growing  still  in  numbers,  power,  and  influence, 
which  will  never  stop  in  its  solemn,  onward  march  vmtil  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world  have  become  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ  and  of  God. 

As  the  second  century  closed,  the  first  stage  of  the  great 


AFTER    THE    ANTOXIXES.  231 

onward  marcli  had  been  reached.  From  the  beginning  of 
the  third  century  onwards,  the  vast  numbers  of  the 
Christians,  their  elaborate  organisation,  the  position  and 
commanding  abihty  of  certain  of  their  members,  prevented 
them  from  any  longer  doing  their  work  and  hving  their 
lives  in  that  comparative  silence,  secrecy,  and  obscurity 
which  in  many  respects  had  hitherto  been  of  such  service 
to  them. 

At  the  end  of  the  second  century  Christianity  had  become 
a  power  in  the  Roman  world.  In  its  early  homes  it  even 
seemed  that  Christians  Avere  to  be  found  in  vast  numbers — in 
such  districts,  for  instance,  as  pro-consular  Asia,  round  Ephesus 
and  the  neighbouring  cities,  and  in  Phrygia  and  in  Cappadocia. 
In  Alexandria  an  important  school  for  the  teaching  of  Chris- 
tianity flourished ;  in  Italy  and  Greece  there  were  many 
converts.  In  Italy  at  that  time  as  many  as  sixty  bishops  were 
administering  sees  large  and  small.  The  Church  of  the  capital 
of  the  Roman  world  was  a  powerful  and  influential  commimity 
numbering  its  many  thousands.  In  South  Gaul  w^e  have 
already  spoken  of  an  important  and  flourishing  Church  in 
Lyons  and  the  neighbourhood.  We  have  seen,  too,  that  in 
the  wealthy  and  populous  province  of  pro-consular  Africa,  a 
Church  highly  organised  and  very  numerous  existed,  with  its 
centre  at  Carthage.  In  the  first  years  of  the  third  century 
we  read  of  a  Church  Synod  with  some  seventy  bishops  gathering- 
round  the  Bishop  of  Carthage.  Here,  too,  at  this  period 
flourished  one  of  the  most  famous  of  the  early  Christian 
writers,  Tertullian,  many  of  whose  brilliant  and  picturesque 
writings  have  come  down  to  us.  From  these  we  gather  vast 
stores  of  information  concerning  the  Church  communities, 
their  joys  and  sorrows,  their  dangers  and  persecutions,  their 
temptations  and  encouragements.  One  or  two  well-known 
passages  on  the  numbers  and  position  of  Christians  from  this 
great  writer  deserve  quotation.  They  are  beyond  question 
coloured  with  the  exaggeration  of  the  orator  and  rhetorician : 
but  that  they  are  in  the  main  true,  and  contain  no  fancy 
picture  of  the  state  of  Christianity  circa  a.d.  198-201,  may 
be  fairly  assumed ;  for  his  burning  words  receive  support  from 


Ii32  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

similar    assertions   gleaned  from   tlie   reliques  of  other  Chris- 
tian writers.      These  all  tell  the  same  story. 

In  the  course  of  his  long  "Apology,"  perhaps  the  best 
known  of  his  extant  writings,  we  come  upon  the  following 
passage,  which  dwells  on  the  numbers  and  widespread 
influence  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  : 

"  If  we  (Christians)  desired  to  23lay  the  part  of  open  enemies, 
would  there  be  any  deficiency  in  strength,  whether  of  numbers 
or  resources  ?  .  .  .  We  are  but  of  yesterday,  and  we  have 
filled  every  place  among  you — cities,  houses,  fortresses,  market 
places,  the  very  camp,  .  .  .  palace,  senate,  forum :  we  have 
left  nothing  to  you  but  the  temples  of  your  gods.  .  .  . 
Without  arms,  and  raising  no  banner  of  revolt,  but  simply  in 
enmity  with  you,  we  could  carry  on  the  contest  with  3^ou  by 
an  ill-willed  separation  only.  For  if  such  multitudes  of  men 
were  to  break  away  from  you,  and  betake  themselves  to  some 
remote  part  of  the  world,  why  the  very  loss  of  so  many  citizens 
would  cover  the  Empire  with  shame ;  nay,  in  the  very  for- 
saking, vengeance  would  be  inflicted  .  .  .  you  would  be 
horror-struck  at  the  solitude  in  which  you  would  find  your- 
selves amid  such  a  prevailing  silence,  and  that  silence  as  of 
a  dead  world.  You  would  have  to  seek  for  subjects  to  govern, 
you  would  have  more  enemies  than  citizens  remaining."* 

Again,  in  another  treatise,  the  same  Tertullian,  speak- 
ing of  the  state  of  things  at  the  end  of  the  second 
century,  thus  writes :  "  Day  after  day,  indeed,  you  groan  over 
the  increasing  number  of  Christians  ;  your  perpetual  lament 
is  that  the  State  is  crowded  out  (by  us),  that  Christians  are 
in  your  fields,  in  your  camps,  ...  in  your  houses ;  you 
mourn  over  it  as  a  misfortune  that  both  sexes,  that  every 
age,  that  all  souls,  are  passing  over  from  you  to  us."  f 

And  this  strange  and  marvellous  growth  of  the  new 
religion  was  not  confined  to  the  countries  occupying  the 
centre  of  the  Roman  world,  where  the  new  teaching  had 
taken  firm  root  from  the  first  days  of  the  preaching  of  the 
Lord   and   His    Apostles — countries    such   as    Syria   and   Asia 

*  Tert.,  Apolof/i/  37  (addressed  to  the  rulers  and  magistrates  of  the  Empire), 
t  Tert.,  Ad  jS'atloiies,  i. 


AFTER    THE    ANT0NIXE8.  233 

Minor,  Italy  and  Greece ;  but  it  had  made  a  firm  lodgment,  as 
we  have  seen,  in  great  and  populous  outlying  provinces,  such 
as  in  North  Africa  and  in  Southern  Gaul— and  even  in  lands 
more  remote  than  these,  for  we  hear  of  Christianity  in 
distant  Britain ;  while  Irenteus,  writing  in  the  last  quarter  of 
the  second  century,  appeals,  as  witnesses  against  the  novelties 
of  the  Gnostic  heretics,  to  the  traditions  of  the  Churches  even 
of  Spain  and  Germany. 

SECTION    II. — SEVERUS    AND    CARACALLA. 

From  our  pictures  of  the  inner  life  of  the  Christian  Church 
about  the  close  of  the  second  and  earlier  years  of  the  third 
century,  we  must  pass  to  a  rapid  survey  of  the  Imperial 
history  of  this  period.  Roughly,  for  the  first  150  years  of 
its  existence,  the  story  of  Christianity  is  the  story  of  a 
separate  people:  of  something  apart  from  the  Empire.  But 
after  the  death  of  Marcus  their  numbers  and  influence  brought 
the  Christians  into  daily  contact  with  the  Government  in 
Rome  or  in  one  or  other  of  the  provinces. 

The  story  of  the  Church  can  no  longer  be  kept  quite 
separate  from  the  story  of  the  Empire. 

From  the  accession  of  Commodus  to  the  accession  of  Con- 
stantino, a  period  of  a  little  more  than  a  hundred  years,  a 
brief  account  of  the  political  changes  of  the  Government  of 
the  Empire  will  be  necessar}-,  as  the  lines  of  the  story  of  the 
Church  and  the  lines  of  the  story  of  the  State  cross  and  re- 
€ross  each  other. 

On  the  last  night  of  the  year  193,  Commodus,  the  un- 
worthy son  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  perished  in  a  palace  intrigue, 
assassinated  by  members  of  his  own  household ;  foremost 
among  whom  was  ^larcia,  who  once  loved  him,  and  who  in 
«ver3'thing,  save  possessing  the  official  name,  was  Empress ; 
to  this  Marcia  we  have  already  referred  as  the  warm  friend 
of  the  Christian  community.  The  conspirators  had  seen 
many  of  their  friends  and  companions  in  the  Imperial  house- 
hold put  to  death,  owing  to  the  mad  caprice  of  the  wicked 
And  suspicious  Commodus,  and,  naturally  dreading  a  like  fate, 
determined  to  forestall  him. 


•2:31.  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

The  conspirators  persuaded  Pertinax,  a  distinguished  senator, 
to  occupy  the  vacant  throne.  Their  sudden  choice  was 
speedily  ratified  by  the  Senate,  who  rejoiced  to  acknowledge 
as  Emperor  one  so  distinguished.  He  had  been  a  Minister 
of  Marcus,  and  in  the  course  of  a  long  and  busy  life  had 
successfully  discharged  the  duties  of  many  of  the  powerful 
offices,  military  and  civil,  of  the  Empire.  After  a  reign  of 
barel}'  three  months,  before  he  had  had  time  to  justify  his 
sudden  election,  Pertinax  was  murdered  in  a  military  revolt 
of  the  Prtetorian  Guards,  who  formed  the  standing^  garrison 
of  Rome;  with  whom  the  newly-elected  Emperor  was  un- 
popular, owing  to  his  strictness  in  enforcing  discipline. 

These  powerful  and  insolent  guards,  numbering  at  this 
time  probably  not  more  than  some  sixteen  thousand  men, 
but  perfectly  trained  and  armed,  feeling  that  they  were  in  a 
way  masters  of  the  metropolis,  positively  offered  the  Imperial 
purple  to  the  highest  bidder.  An  elderly  Senator,  possessed 
of  great  wealth,  one  Didius  Julianus,  only  known  in  history 
through  the  infamous  bargain  he  concluded  with  the  Prae- 
torians, for  a  brief  period  was  reckoned  among  the  Roman 
Emperors.  The  election,  however,  of  the  Roman  Guards,  far 
from  being  confirmed  in  the  provinces,  was  pronounced  null 
and  void  by  the  three  powerful  armies  stationed  on  the 
frontier  provinces  of  the  Empire,  each  of  which  at  once 
saluted  its  own  general  as  Emperor  of  Rome.  Severus,  the 
commander  of  the  Pannonian  Legions — Pannonia  with  Dalmatia 
was  a  vast  region  situate  between  the  Danube  and  the  Adriatic 
— after  a  contest  lasting  some  three  years,  eventually  suc- 
ceeded in  overcoming  his  competitors,  and  was  acknowledged 
universally  as  Master  of  the  Roman  world.  A  native  of  North 
Al'rica,  Severus  was  a  great  and  successful  soldier,  and  reigned 
from  A.D.  193  to  a.d.  211,  transmitting  the  Imperial  succes- 
sion to  his  sons,  Caracalla  and  Geta;  indeed,  his  family,  with 
but  a  brief  interlude,  occupied  the  throne  until  a.d.  235. 

An  eminent  and  trusted  general,  and  owing  his  position 
solely  to  his  legions,  he  regarded  the  mighty  Empire  over 
which  he  ruled  as  his  own  possession,  to  be  held,  as  it  had 
been  won,  by  the  power  of  the  sword;    but  in   spite   of  the 


SEVERUS. 

Bust  from  the  Palatine  Hill,  Rome,   now  in  the  British  Museum. 


AFTER    THE    ANTONINES.  235 

military  despotism  of  his  reign,  he  occupies  in  the  judgment 
of  posterity  a  very  different  position  to  that  filled  by  many 
of  the  tyrants  who  had  preceded  him.  Though  occasionally 
harsh  and  cruel,  he  was  on  the  whole  a  just  and  impartial 
sovereign ;  and  Rome,  when  once  he  was  firmly  seated  on 
the  throne,  enjoyed,  under  his  military  rule,  a  period  generally 
of  internal  peace  and  prosperity," 

^Ye  have  seen  that  in  the  days  of  Commodus,  particularly 
during  the  latter  years  of  the  reign,  when  Marcia,  the  favourite 
of  the  Emperor,  exercised  great  influence,  the  Christians  of 
the  Empire  enjoyed  a  period  of  comparative  stillness.  Marcia^ 
if  not  a  Christian  herself,  was  ver}?-  favourably  disposed  to 
them,  and  largely,  no  doubt,  owing  to  her  influence  with 
Commodus,  not  a  few  out  of  the  Christian  community  occu- 
pied positions  of  power  and  influence  at  Court.  For  several 
years  after  the  accession  of  Severus  to  supreme  power,  this 
state  of  things  continued,  and  the  military  Emperor  evidently, 
during  the  earlier  years  of  his  reign,  looked  kindly  upon  the 
sect  which  had  been  so  harshly  treated  under  his  great 
predecessor,  Marcus.  This  period  of  "stillness"  was  enjoyed 
by  the  Church  until  about  a.d.  202,  when  a  great  change 
for  the  worse  came  over  her  fortunes. 

Tertullian,  who  was  the  contemporary  of  Severus,  ex- 
pressly tells  us  {A])ol.  35,  ad.  ScapidaTn  4)  that  in  the  -wars 
of  the  Succession  which  Severus  waged  between  a.d.  193  and 
A.D.  197,  no  Christian  of  any  note  was  found  among  the 
adherents  of  his  competitors,  Niger  and  Albinus,  the  generals 
respectively  of  the  formidable  Roman  armies  stationed  in 
Syria  and  Britain.  Indeed,  it  seems  that  the  general  feeling 
and  probably  the  quiet  influence  of  the  Christians  of  the 
Empire  were  in  favour  of  Severus  during  that  anxious  period. 
This  would,  partially  at  all  events,  account  for  the  evidently 
favourable    disposition   of  the   stern    soldier-Emperor    towards 

*  The  great  historian,  however,  summing  up  the  events  of  Severus'  reign, 
takes  a  sombre  view  of  the  effect  of  his  rule.  After  dwelling  on  the  introduction 
of  a  military  despotism,  and  the  setting  violently  aside  many  of  the  ancient 
traditions  of  Rome,  he  concludes  with  these  words  :  "  Posterity,  who  experienced  the 
fatal  effects  of  his  maxims  and  example,  justly  considered  him  as  the  principal 
author  of  the  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire." — Decline  and  Fall,  chap.  v. 


236  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  Christians  during  the  first  ten  years  of  his  reign.  But 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  kindly  as  were  the  feehngs  of 
Severus  towards  Christians,  no  change  was  made  in  the 
oppressive  laws  which  existed ;  none  of  the  fatal  rescripts  or 
edicts  of  former  Emperors  were  rescinded  or  even  modified. 
But  the  effect  of  the  known  goodwill  of  the  Sovereign  was 
felt  far  and  wide,  and  the  provincial  governors  and  magis- 
trates generally  discouraged  all  persecution  and  interference 
Avith  the  widely-spread  communities  of  Christians,  whom  the 
Emperor,  during  the  first  half  of  his  reign,  was  pleased  at 
least  to  tolerate,  if  not  to  favour. 

At  the  very  end  of  the  century  (the  second)  a  change 
began  to  pass  over  the  Emperor's  feelings  and  the  policy  of  the 
government  with  regard  to  the  Christians,  materially  affecting 
the  position  of  the  many  communities  of  the  worshippers  of 
J  esus  of  Nazareth  in  Rome  and  in  the  provinces ;  and  very 
early  in  the  third  century  the  persecution  seems  to  have 
become  general  and  CA^en  bitter. 

It  is  not  too  nuich  to  say  that  one  of  the  reasons  Avhich 
largely  contributed  to  this  persecution  Avas  the  provocation  of 
the  extreme  and  austere  party  among  the  Christians  them- 
selves. We  shall  dwell  at  some  length  on  the  teaching  of 
this  school  under  such  masters  as  Hippolytus  of  Rome  and 
Tertullian  of  Carthage. 

There  Avas  alwa3^s  a  large  and  hostile  section  of  the  Pagan 
population  in  every  great  centre  of  the  Empire ;  a  section 
made  up  of  men  Avho  hated  the  followers  of  Jesus  for  various 
reasons,  some  based  on  self-interested  motiA^es  connected  Avith 
trades  and  industries  Avhich  suffered  gravely  under  Christian 
influences,  some  on  motives  connected  Avith  the  ancient  super- 
stitions of  Rome,  some  on  purely  patriotic  fears.  A  very  small 
spark  AA'ould  at  all  times  kindle  this  latent  hostility  into 
a  blaze.  The  actions  oi  the  extremists  among  the  Christians 
Avere  often  eminently  calculated  to  excite  this  hostile  section 
of  the  population ;  popular  tumults  often  compelled  the  pro- 
vincial governors  and  magistrates  to  take  action  against  the 
Christians  Avhen  they  Avould  willingly  have  let  them  alone. 

Such   actions  of   the    extreme    party  are    vividly   pictured 


AFTER    THE    AXTOXIXES.  237 

by  TertuUian  in  his  well-known  treatise,  De  Coroiid  Militis 
(■'  The  Soldier's  Crown  ").  The  incident  upon  which  this  treatise 
is  based  is  a  good  example  of  the  imprudent  zeal  which  the 
teaching  of  the  extremists  among  the  Christians  had  inspired 
in  many  earnest  though  mistaken  men ;  a  zeal,  of  course, 
calculated  to  inflame  the  passions  of  the  already  hostile  people, 
who  looked  upon  them  as  enemies  of  the  State,  and  as  opposed 
to  all  established  Roman  customs.  The  incident,  as  related  by 
TertuUian,  was  as  follows. 

The  Emperors — Severus  and  his  son  Caracalla,  who  had 
been  associated  Avith  him  in  the  Imperial  dignity  in  the 
year  198* — had  directed  a  largesse  to  be  distributed  to  the 
soldiers  in  one  of  the  North  African  military  centres.  On 
such  occasions  it  was  customary  for  the  soldiers  to  appear 
with  crowns  of  laurel  on  their  heads,  the  largesse  being  given 
to  celebrate  some  successful  feat  of  arms  lately  performed  in 
one  or  other  of  the  frontier  wars,  which  were  ever  being 
carried  on.  On  this  particular  occasion  the  soldiers,  laurel- 
crowned,  were  marching  past.  "  One  of  them,"  so  writes 
TertuUian  in  admiring  language,  "  more  a  soldier  of  God, 
more  steadfast  than  the  rest  of  his  brethren,!  who  had 
imagined  that  they  could  serve  two  masters,  marched  past, 
his  head  uncovered,  the  useless  laurel-crown  in  his  hand. 
Thus  nobly  conspicuous,  all  began  to  mark  him  out,  jeering 
at  him  from  a  distance,  railing  at  him  near  at  hand.  The 
murmur  is  wafted  to  the  Tribune.  .  .  .  He  puts  at  once  the 
question  to  him,  '  Why  are  you  so  different  from  others  in 
your  attire  ? '  The  soldier  answers  that  he  had  no  liberty  to 
wear  the  crown  with  the  rest,  and  on  being  pressed  for  his 
reasons,  he  declared,  '  I  am  a  Christian/  " 

The  offender  was  conducted  to  the  Prefects,  and  eventually 
taken  to  prison,  where,  to  quote  TertuUian's  words,  "  crowned 


*  The  exact  date  of  this  fiery  and  eloquent  writing  of  TertuUian  is  much 
disputed.  The  French  scholar  Allard  gives  as  the  most  probable  date,  a. d.  198 
(originally  suggested  by  Gibbon).  Allard  ascribes  the  treatise  Ad  Xationcs  to 
the  same  period,  and  the  well-known  "  Apology  "  to  about  the  year  200-201. 

f  The  words  of  TertuUian  evidently  imply  that  a  number  of  these  legionaries. 
were  Christians. 


238  EABLY   CHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

more  worthily  with  the  white  crown  of  martyrdom,  he  awaited 
the  largesse  of  Christ "  {i.e.  a  martyr's  death). 

In  a  fine  peroration  the  great  Christian  writer  bids  Chris- 
tians "keep  for  God  what  is  His  own,  untainted.  He  will 
crown  it  if  He  choose.  Nay,  then  He  does  choose,  He  even 
calls  us  to  it.  To  him  who  conquers  He  says,  '  I  will  give 
you  a  crown  of  life.' "  Then,  after  picturing  the  glorious 
crowned  ones,  described  in  S.  John's  grand  Apocalyptic  Vision, 
he  says  to  Christians,  "  Look  at  those  crowns ;  inhale  those 
odours;  why  should  you  condemn  to  a  little  chaplet,  or  to 
a  leaf-twined  coronal*  the  brow  which  has  been  destined  for 
a  diadem  ?  For  Jesus  Christ  has  made  us  kings  to  God  and 
His  Father.  What  have  you  in  common  with  a  flower  which 
is  to  die?" 

Such  acts  as  that  related  above  by  Tertullian  were  doubt- 
less of  no  uncommon  occurrence  under  the  fiery,  uncom- 
promising teachings  of  this  extreme  school ;  and  were  emi- 
nently fitted  to  excite  the  fury  of  the  Pagan  populace,  and 
gravely  to  influence  the  procedure  of  the  Imperial  magistrates 
in  their  dealings  Avith  Christians. 

Statesmen  might  well  argue  that  it  was  impossible  to 
ignore  such  overt  acts  of  contumely  directed  against  all  that 
Rome  prized  and  held  dear.  It  availed  little  that  the  great 
majority  of  Christians  gravely  disapproved  such  exaggerated 
and  useless  manifestations  as  the  one  related,  and  praised  so 
very  emphatically,  in  the  Be  Corona  Militis  of  Tertullian. 
The  few  irreconcileables  were  too  often  reijarded  as  fair 
examples  of  the  many ;  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  the 
teaching  of  the  extremists,  and  its  disastrous  results,  were 
among    the   causes  whch  led   to    the   bitter   persecution   that 

*The  wearing  of  these  festal,  or  laurel  crowns,  was  evidently  regarded  by 
Tertullian  and  his  stern,  exclusive  school  of  thought  <is  a  pnhlie  covcciit.ion  to  idol 
worship.  In  his  strange  though  eloquent  treatise  on  ''the  Crown"'  he  shows  that 
no  patriarch  or  prophet,  no  Apostle  or  preacher  of  the  Gospel  ever  wore  a  crown. 
The  only  crowned  One  who  could  be  cited  was  Christ,  and  His  diadem  was  com- 
posed of  thorns.  His  readers  had  fidl  permission  to  be  crowned  as  He  was  !  On 
the  other  hand  he  shows  how  the  Eoman  heathen  deities  were  always  represented 
ds  wearing  crowns.  He  instances  Saturn,  Jupiter,  Juno,  Apollo,  Bacchus,  and 
Hercules.     (/»»  Coroid,  chaps,  vii.  and  ix.) 


AFTER    THE    ANTONINES.  239 

broke  out  after  the  close  of  the  second  century,  and  weighed  so 
heavily  on  the  Christian  communities  generally  throughout 
the  Empire  during  the  ensuing  years. 

But  although  a  section — a  party  numerically  small  it  is 
true — had  by  their  conduct  gravely  compromised  the  whole  body 
of  Christians,  and  had  made  themselves  painfully  conspicuous 
by  their  determined  refusal  to  conform  even  in  non-essential 
particulars  with  the  time-honoured  customs  of  the  State, 
still  it  does  not  seem  that  this  unwise  conduct,  this  obstinate 
behaviour  of  the  extremists,  was  the  only  cause  of  the 
change  in  the  policy  of  the  Emperor  Severus  in  his  dealings 
with  his  Christian  subjects.  It  was  evidently  something 
deeper,  something  more  far-reaching ;  something  which  fre- 
quently affected  the  Emperor  and  the  statesmen  who  were 
at  the  head  of  public  afifiiirs  at  this  juncture. 

It  was  the  rapidly  increasing  numbers  of  the  Christians, 
drawn  from  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  in  the  army 
and  in  civil  professions,  their  perfect  organisation,  their 
strange  and  unexplained  unity,  which  struck  with  fears  for 
the  present,  and  still  more  with  apprehensions  for  the  future, 
the  minds  of  Severus  and  the  Pagan  statesmen  of  his  time  ; 
who  were  persuaded  that  the  weal  of  Rome  depended  upon 
the  strict  maintenance  of  the  traditional  uses  and  customs 
which  had  helped  to  build  up  the  great  Empire.  Tertullian 
gravely,  not  boastingly,  notices  this  enormous  and  unexampled 
increase  in  the  numbers  of  the  Christian  subjects  of  the 
Empire  when  he  speaks  of  the  universal  cry  complaining 
that  the  State  was  literally  occupied,  crowded  out,"^  by  these 
folk. 

Severus  and  his  advisers  felt  that  a  new  policy  must  be 
adopted  without  delay  towards  these  strange  enemies  who 
had  grown  up  in  their  midst,  who  had  effected  a  lodge- 
ment in  every  cit}',  in  every  village,  even  in  the  unconquered 
army  of  Rome,  in  the  crowded  homes  of  the  poor,  in  the 
luxurious  villas  and  palaces  of  the  rich,  in  the  Senate,  and 
in  the  very  household  of  the  Emperor,  whose  numbers  were 

*  "Obseasam  vociferantur  civitatem "  :  Teit.,  ApoL  1. 


24.)  EARLY    CnRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

multiplying  with  such  alarming  rapidity,  and  whose  power 
and  influence  undoubtedly  were  daily  increasing. 

The  old  edicts  and  rescripts  proscribing  this  strange 
religion,  as  interpreted  by  the  magistrates  of  the  Empire, 
were  manifestly  insufficient  adequately  to  check  the  rapid 
increase  of  the  converts  to  the  new  religion. 

There  is  abundant  testimony  to  the  fact  that  a  terrible 
and  general  persecution  raged  in  the  earliest  years  of  the 
third  century,  and  probably  continued  without  intermission 
all  through  the  remainder  of  the  reign  of  Severus,  who 
died  at  York  a.d.  211.  Eusebius,  writing  in  the  first  half 
of  the  fourth  century,  thus  begins  the  sixth  book  of  his 
"  Ecclesiastical  History"  :  "And  when  Severus  raised  a  persecu- 
tion against  the  Churches,  there  Avere  everywhere  in  all  the 
Churches  glorious  martyrdoms  of  the  champions  for  religion, 
but  especially  were  they  numerous  at  Alexandria;  to  which 
city,  as  to  the  noblest  stadium  of  God,  were  brought  the 
most  eminent  champions  from  the  Thebais  and  from  all 
Egypt,  that  by  invincible  j)^tience  under  various  torments 
and  divers  sorts  of  death,  they  might  obtain  from  God  a 
glorious  crown."  And  again  he  writes  a  little  further  on 
{H.  E.  vi.  2),  "at  that  time  many  thousands  were  crowned 
with  martyrdom."  Sulpicius  Severus*  specially  mentions  this 
as  a  time  of  severe  trial,  styling  it  the  sixth  persecution.  The 
references  in  the  words  of  Tertulhan,  a  contemporary  writer 
and  teacher,  to  the  bitter  sufferings  of  Christians  at  this  period 
are  innumerable. 

There  is,  however,  some  diversity  of  opinion  among 
scholars  as  to  whether  a  new  and  more  rigforous  lesfislation 
was  adopted  by  the  State  in  its  dealings  with  the  now 
numerous  and  powerful  sect,  or  whether  the  old  machinery 
of  the  earlier  edicts  and  rescripts  was  made  more  effective. 
Those  who  favour  the  former  view  refer  to  the  words  of 
vSpartianus,   one   of  the   writers   of  the   "Augustan   History,"! 

*  Sulpicius  Severus  was  a  writer  of  Southern  Gaul  (Aquitaine)  who 
flourished  circa  a.d.  36o-4:2o  ;  he  is  especially  known  as  a  devoted  disciple  and 
admirer  of  the  famous  Bishop  of  Tours,  S.  Martin. 

t  This  history  was  the  work  of  four,  or  perhaps,  as  some, say  ,of  six  writers.  It 
contains   biographies   of   the   Roman   Emperors   from   Hadrian   to   Carinus,   who 


AFTER   THE  AXTONI^^'ES.  241 

who,  in  his  account  of  Severus'  progress  through  Palestine  in 
the  year  202,  mentions  that  among  many  other  laws  which  the 
Emperor  promulgated  was  one  which  "  forbade  under  grave 
penalties  that  anyone  should  become  a  Jew,  and  the  same  law 
was  to  be  enforced  in  the  case  of  Christians.""^  Spartianus 
gives  no  further  details  here,  but  his  words  apparently 
point  to  some  fresh  and  sterner  legislation;  and  as  the  cruel 
persecution  of  the  Christians  immediately  followed,  it  may 
be  presumed  that  the  persecution  was  embittered  by  some 
fresh  legislation.! 

w:is  assassinated  in  his  campaign  against  Diocletian  a.d.  285.  The  lives  of  the 
Emperors  before  Hadrian  have  not  come  down  to  us.  To  Spartianus  are  attri- 
buted all  the  biographies  in  the  collection  up  to  Alexander  Severus.  This  work 
was  -written  in  the  times  of  Diocletian  and  Constantine,  that  is  to  say  early 
in  the  fourth  century.  The  authors,  including  Spartianus,  were  probably 
librarians  or  secretaries  to  eminent  persons.  Spartianus  seems  to  refer  to  him- 
self as  being  a  member  of  Diocletian's  household.  These  biographies  make  no 
pretension  to  literary  merit,  but  are  extremely  valuable  as  a  repertory  of 
facts.  They  record  amongst  other  interesting  details  many  Imperial  edicts, 
rescripts,  etc.  As  a  whole  they  appear  to  be  generally  faithful  and  free  from 
any  imputation  of  unfairness.  The  names  of  the  other  three  writers  of  the 
"  Augustan  History "  are  Julius  Capitolinus,  Trebellius  PoUio,  and  Flavius 
Vopiscus.  The  connection  between  these  four  writers  is  unknown.  The 
"  Lives,"  written  by  Spartianus,  are  formally  dedicated  in  the  first  part  to 
Diocletian,  in  the  latter  to  Constantine. 

* "  In    itinera    Palsestinis    plurima    jura  f  undavit,  Judteos    fieri    sub    gravi 
poena  vstuit,  idem  etiam  de  Christianis  mnxit." — Spartianus:  Severus,   17. 

t  AUard,  Histoire  des  'Persecutions  (1894),  ii.,  chap,  xi.,  considers  the 
words  of  Spartianus  above  quoted  a  very  brief  resume  of  an  edict  of  Severus, 
and  that  the  words  "  Christianos  fieri  "  possess  a  double  sense,  viz.,  "  to  become 
or  to  be  made  Christians"  and  "to  make  Christians."  Thus  the  edict  made 
it  at  the  same  time  criminal  to  be  a  Christian  prosehjte  or  to  make  a  Christian 
proselyte  ("les  convertisseurs  et  les  convertis").  The  French  scholar  considers 
that  Severus  and  his  ad^'isers,  dismayed  at  the  rapid  increase  of  Christians 
in  all  parts  of  the  Empire,  and  recognising  that  the  existing  laws  were  totally 
inadequate  to  stay  the  rapid  and  alarming  propaganda  of  the  new  religion, 
framed  this  new  edict  to  which  Spartianus  refers,  which  struck  sharply  at  all 
attempts  to  proselytise  as  well  as  at  all  new  converts  to  the  Faith.  Against 
such  the  magistrates  were  authorised  at  once  to  proceed,  without  waiting  for 
any  definite  accusa.tion,  which  was  the  old  way  of  procedure  against  Christians 
in  accordance  with  the  rescript  of  the  Emperor  Trajan.  Professor  Ramsay 
(1897),  on  the  other  hand  {Church  in  the  Eoman  Empire,  ix.),  following 
Neumann,  considers  that  no  proof  exists  that  the  Emperor  Severus  ever  issued 
any  edict  on  the  subject,  and  that  the  Emperor  in  question  did  no  more  than 
answer  by  rescript  questions  on  the  matter  of  how  to  deal  with  Christians 
addressed  to  him  by  provincial  governors.      Such  answer  by  rescript  from  an 

Q 


242  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

Alexandria,  the  great  and  world-renowned  capital  of  Egypt, 
is  especially  noted  by  Eusebius  in  the  above  quoted  passage  as  a 
centre  of  this  persecution.  For  some  time  it  had  been  a  famous 
home  of  Christian  teaching,  and  the  persecution  there  was 
evidently  especially  hard.  It  seems  probable  that  Severus,  who 
about  A.D.  202  spent  some  time  in  this  great  Egyptian  city,  was 
disturbed  and  alarmed  at  the  influence  exercised  by  the 
brilliant  and  popular  teaching  of  Clement,  the  head  of  the 
famous  Catechetical  School  of  that  city,  whose  lectures  were 
attended  by  vast  numbers,  including  not  only  Christian  students 
but  distinguished  Pagans  of  both  sexes.  Hence  many  martyrs 
suffered  at  this  time  in  Alexandria,  although  the  teaching  of 
Clement,  while  exalting  the  value  of  the  witness  of  these 
sufferers  for  the  Faith,  discouraged  all  presumptuous  daring  on 
the  part  of  Christians,  and  counselled  them  rather  to  avoid 
than  court  danger. 

In  Rome  and  Italy  documents  such  as  "  Acts  and  Passions  " 
of  martyrs  connected  with  the  persecution  of  Severus  are 
almost  entirely  wanting.  The  destruction  of  the  Christian 
archives,  including  any  memoranda  of  iwoces  verhaux  of  trials 
and  the  like  which  could  be  discovered  in  the  time  of  the 
"  terror "  of  Diocletian — a  destruction,  of  course,  naturally 
more  vigorously  carried  on  at  Rome,  the  seat  of  the  Govern- 
ment, than  in  any  other  centre — accounts  for  this.^  But  recent 
archseological  investigations  in  the  great  catacombs  of  the 
Appian  Way  partly  supply  the  want  of  these  lost  documents. 

The  corridors  a,nd  funereal  chambers  of  the  important 
catacomb  over  which  Callistus  the  Deacon  was  appointed  by 
Pope  Zephyrinus,  and  which  apparently  was  largely  his  design 
and  to  this  day  bears  his  name,  show  that  something  had 
rudely  and  suddenly  interrupted  the  regular  plan  of  the 
decorative  and  other  works  which  were  proceeding  in  that 
famous  subterranean  cemetery.     Evidently,  new  entrances  and 

Emperor  markedly  hostile  to  Chi-istianity,  as  was  Severus  evidently  in  the  last 
half  of  his  reign,  would  naturally  have  the  effect  of  encouraging  persecution. 
This  animus  on  the  part  of  the  Emperor,  as  we  have  seen,  had  clearly 
influenced  the  persecution  of  Christians  in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Marcus. 

*  So  De  Rossi.  Compare  La  Bibliotheca  della  sede  ApostoUca,  1884,  p.  22,  and 
Be  Origine  Bibliothecm  sedis  Ajmstoliccc,  1886,  p.  xvi.,  xxi. 


AFTER   TEE  A:N'T0N'INES.  243 

new  passages  were  at  that  time  contrived  opening  into  neigh- 
bouring sandpits;  narrow  stairs  were  devised,  the  old  communi- 
cation and  flights  of  steps  were  partly  destroyed  or  concealed. 
Clearly  these  arrangements  were  made  to  facilitate  escape  for 
the  harassed  Christians  who  might  be  tracked  into  the  sacred 
places,  used  especially  in  times  of  persecution  as  meeting 
chapels  for  worship,  and  for  the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist. 

It  appears  that  at  this  particular  period,  when  the  im- 
portant catacomb  generally  known  as  that  of  S.  Callistus  was  in 
process  of  being  made  and  decorated,"^  interments  were  not 
forbidden,  but  anything  like  assemblies  of  Christians  for 
religious  worship  was  strictly  interdicted.  Everything  points 
to  a  vigorous  persecution  going  on  at  Kome.  Driven  from 
their  customary  meeting  places  in  the  city,  the  harassed 
communities  no  doubt  assembled  secretly  in  these  crypts  and 
sepulchral  chambers,  which  were  more  or  less  arranged  for 
this  purpose.  Tracked  by  the  police  of  the  Emperor  into 
these  gloomy  refuges,  they  sought  to  render  them  compara- 
tively safe  by  blocking  up  some  of  the  corridors,  by  destroying 
the  usual  staircases  of  approach,  and  by  providing  secret  means 
of  egress  when  so  tracked. 

In  the  great  pro-consular  province  of  North  Africa,  ample 
written  materials  are  extant  bearing  testimony  to  the  ravages 
of  the  same  terrible  persecution  of  the  Christian  citizens  of 
Carthage  and  other  North  African  centres. 

Tertullian,  writing  of  this  troublous  time,  expressly  speaks 
of  such  raids  as  of  common  occurrence,  and  refers  to  them 
thus :  "  We  Christians  are  daily  harassed,  tracked  out,  sur- 
prised in  our  most  secret  assemblies."  And  again :  "  You 
(the  Government)  are  in  the  habit  of  making  raids  upon  us 
in  our  meetings  and  assemblies"  {Ad  Ncdiones,  17,  and 
Apologia,  7) ;  and  in  his  %vi-iting3  we  possess  many  vivid 
pictures  of  the  trials  and  sufferings  of  the  followers  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  during  these  sad  years. 

To  this  time,  the  first  years  of  the  third  century,  must  be 

*  The  identity  of  the  masonry  of  the  newly  devised  secret  approaches,  and 
of  the  walls  and  obstruction  in  the  corridors  and  chambers,  with  the  original 
work  which  belongs  to  the  early  years  of  the  third  century,  has  been  established . 


244  EABLY   CHRIS TIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

attributed  tlie  events  so  pathetically  related  Avith  intimate 
details  in  "  The  Passion  of  S.  Perpetua."* 

In  the  wide  district  generally  Imown  as  Asia  Minor,  where, 
as  we  have  had  already  occasion  to  remark,  the  number  of 
men  and  women  who  professed  the  Faith  of  Jesus  from  the 
earliest  times  was  very  great,  the  victims  of  the  persecution 
of  Severus  were  numerous,  but  details  are  lacking.  The  troubles 
of  Christians  in  these  provinces  especially  were  not  a  little 
increased  by  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  heresy  known  as 
that  of  Montanus.  The  extravagance  of  these  Montanists, 
their  resolute  refusal  to  conform  in  any  way  to  Roman  customs 
and  practices,  which  they  associated  with  idolatry,  and  their 
habit  of  positively  courting  martyrdom,  seemed  often  seriously 
to  affect  the  position  of  the  quiet,  earnest  Christian  folk, 
and  to  bring  them  into  useless  conflict  with  the  Imperial 
authorities,  t 

In  the  last  years  of  his  reign,  so  disastrous  a  period  for 
his  Christian  subjects,  the  great  soldier-Emperor  especially 
devoted  himself  to  the  metropolis  of  the  world.  After  some 
seventeen  centuries  of  wear  and  tear,  of  devastation  and 
invasion  in  Rome,  mighty  ruins  bearing  the  name  of  Sevevus 
are  among  the  more  prominent  features  even  in  the  city  ot 
ruins.  His  great  arch  still  dominates  one  end  of  the  storied 
forum,  while  a  vast  and  shapeless  pile  of  remains  on  the 
south  of  the  hill  of  Imperial  palaces  marks  the  site  of  the 
gorgeous  house  of  Severus  looking  over  the  sad  Campagna  to 
Ostia  and  the  sea. 

His  building  work  in  Rome  was  enormous  ;  palaces,  baths, 
temples,  huge  granaries,  such  as  even  Rome  herself  with  her 
magnificent  record  had  never  seen  before,  signalised  the 
closing  period  of  his  career.  It  was,  as  regards  noble  build- 
ings, the  most  brilliant  period  the  world-capital  had  known. 
And  while  new  stately  temples  Avere  rising,  and  ancient  fanes 

*  iSec  p.  237  supra. 

t  The  position  and  tenets  of  the  Montanists,  in  whose  ranks  were  graduallj- 
included  many  of  the  more  rigorous  and  ascetic  of  the  Christians  of  that  time  who 
refused  to  share  in  the  life  and  pursuits  of  the  ordinary  citizens  of  the  Empire,  arc 
described  in  Chapter  XII.,  p.  326/". 


AFTER   THE  ANTOXINES.  245 

were  being  magnificently  restored,  while  the  grandest  palace 
among  all  that  marvellous  group  of  palaces  was  being  erected 
on  that  hill  where  the  "  divine "  Csesar  dwelt,  overlooking  the 
immemorial  Forum,  the  centre  of  all  Pagan  worship,  the 
Christians  of  the  Eoman  community,  as  irreconcilable  enemies 
of  the  State,  were  being  hunted  down  as  they  gathered  in 
silence  and  in  secret  for  prayer  and  praise  in  the  sombre 
corridors  and  sepulchral  chambers  of  their  cemeteries  beneath 
the  vineyards  and  gardens  just  outside  Rome.  As  we  have 
already  noticed,  much  of  the  work  of  destruction  carried  out 
with  the  hope  of  concealing  these  meeting-places  in  the  great 
cemetery  beneath  the  gardens  which  fringe  the  Appian  Way, 
dates  from  the  period  of  this  persecution. 

History  relates  one  more  campaign  undertaken  by  Severus 
in  the  far  north  of  distant  Britain,  Avhere  the  wild  moun- 
taineers of  Caledonia  persistently  refused  to  recognise  the 
majesty  of  Rome.  Probably  the  worn-out  Emperor  under- 
took the  conduct  of  this  last  war  in  person  in  order  to  re- 
move from  the  seductive  pleasures  of  the  capital  his  two 
sons,  Caracalla  and  Geta,  But  the  fatigue  of  the  war  was  too 
much  for  the  toil-worn  soldier ;  for  on  his  return  from  a  suc- 
cessful campaign  in  Caledonia  he  expired  at  York,  leaving 
the  tremendous  mheritance  of  the  Empire  to  his  unworthy 
sons. 

Among  the  many  tragedies  which  stained  the  Imperial 
purple,  the  story  of  the  brother-Emperors,  the  sons  and  suc- 
cessors of  Severus,  stands  out  conspicuously.  Caracalla  and 
Geta  hated  each  other,  and  the  Roman  world  was  soon 
appalled  at  hearing  that  the  younger  brother,  Geta,  had 
been  assassinated  at  his  brother's  suggestion  in  his  mother's 
arms. 

The  fears  which  were  entertained  by  Severus  that  his 
sons  would  prove  themselves  unworthy  of  their  great  inherit- 
ance, when  he  took  them  from  Rome  on  his  last  campaign 
into  Britain,  were  unhappily  too  well  founded.  Little  is 
known  of  the  younger,  who  was  foully  murdered,  as  we  have 
said,  in  a.d.  212,  the  year  following  Severus'  death;  but  the 
elder,  Caracalla,  ranks  among  the  vilest  of  the  Emperors. 


246  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

In  cold-blooded  cruelty  he  even  surpassed  Nero  and 
Domitian.  It  is  said  that  above  twenty  thousand  persons  of 
both  sexes,  some  of  them  of  the  highest  rank,  were  put  to 
death  early  in  his  fatal  reign  under  the  vague  charge  of 
having  been  friends  of  the  murdered  Geta.  Gibbon  does  not 
hesitate  to  style  him  "  the  common  enemy  of  mankind." 

The  year  after  the  death  of  Geta,  Caracalla  left  Rome 
never  to  return  to  it,  and  spent  the  remaining  four  or  five 
years  of  his  life  in  moving  about  through  the  various  provinces 
of  his  immense  Empire;  and  in  the  course  of  his  imperial 
progresses  "  every  province  was  by  turn  the  scene  of  his 
rapine  and  cruelty."  He  perished  by  an  assassin's  dagger 
in  A.D.  217,  universally  feared  and  execrated. 

Historians  have  noted  as  a  curious  fact  that  in  the  long 
line  of  the  masters  of  the  greatest  Empire  the  world  has 
ever  seen,  those  princes  who  were  born,  so  to  speak,  in  the 
purple,^'  with  perhaps  one  or  two  excej^tions,  were  detestable 
tyrants,  while  the  wiser  and  better  Emperors  were  all  of  them 
raised  to  the  throne  by  adoption  or  by  election.  Among 
the  first  Csesars,  from  Julius  to  Nero,  a  family  connection 
more  or  less  close  existed ;  and,  with  the  exception  of 
Augustus,  they  were  all  crime-stained  tyrants.  The  wise 
Vespasian  was  elected,  but  of  his  two  sons  Titus  died  all 
too  soon,  and  Domitian  was  a  monster  of  vice.  Nerva, 
Trajan,  Hadrian,  the  two  Antonines,  between  whom  no  blood- 
relationship  existed,  were  on  the  whole  great  and  generally 
loved  princes.  But  unfortunately,  Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus 
was  followed  by  his  son,  the  execrable  Commodus.  After 
Commodus  came  the  "  elected "  Severus,  who,  although  a 
military  despot,  takes  rank  among  the  eminent  Emperors 
of  Rome ;  but  he  was  succeeded  by  his  wretched  son 
Caracalla,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  too  well  maintained  the 
unvarying  tradition  of  the  character  of  the  princes  born  in 
the  Roman  purple. 

The   question   arises,   how   came    it   to   pass    that    in    the 

*  The  French  historian  notices  this  fact  in  the  succession  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  as  being  different  to  our  modern  experience.  In  Eome,  "  C'est  I'election 
qui  sauve,  c'est  Theredite  qui  perd."     Champagny:  Les  Antonins,  i.  1. 


AFTER   THE  ANTONINES.  247 

Koman  Empire,  in  the  matter  of  the  succession  to  the  throne 
a  completely  different  experience  presents  itself  from  that 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  in  mediaeval  and  modem 
times  ? 

Now  it  is  in  an  hereditary  throne  that  people  find  the 
greatest  security  for  the  maintenance  of  internal  peace  and 
prosperity.  The  idea  of  an  elected  sovereign  is  well  nigh 
impossible;  the  experiment  would  be,  by  universal  opinion, 
too  hazardous.^  Many  of  the  reasons  for  this  curiously 
different  experience  are  not  hard  to  find.  The  Roman  Empire 
was  made  up  of  various  nationalities ;  a  loyal  attachment 
to  an  Italian  family  or  dynasty,  natural  enough  in  Italy, 
would  find  no  place  in  Gaul,  in  North  Africa,  or  in  Syria. 
But  a  deeper  reason  existed  in  the  antecedents  of  the 
sovereigns  of  the  Roman  world.  The  "  elected "  was  chosen 
for  some  distinguishing  qualities,  for  some  conspicuous 
abilities;  in  many  cases  he  had  been  a  soldier,  and  when 
called  to  rule  was  usually  long  past  the  age  of  youthful 
passion  and  prejudice.  Trained  generally  in  the  stern 
discipline  of  a  Roman  place  of  arms,  he  brought  with  him 
to  the  throne  the  virtues  peculiar  to  the  camp — courage, 
endurance,  self-restraint,  and  the  habit  of  commanding.  The 
"  born  in  the  purple,"  on  the  other  hand,  was  brought  up 
in  the  often  enervating  atmosphere  of  a  Pagan  court,  sur- 
rounded from  youth  with  obsequious  flatterers,  unaccustomed 
to  self-denial  or  self-restraint.  The  Roman  Prince  "  bom 
in  the  purple,"  unlike  the  Prince  of  mediaeval  and  modern 
times,  lacked  in  any  education  which  he  received  that 
Christian  training  which,  since  the  religion  of  Jesus  has  be- 
come the  religion  of  the  Western  world,  forms  so  marked 
a  feature  in  the  education  of  a  Prince  born  to  an  hereditary 
throne. 

The  general    persecution    which    weighed    so    heavily    on 

*  In  the  TTestern  world  the  great  Powers  of  England,  G-ermanr,  Russia, 
Italy,  and  Austria-Hungary  have  adopted  generally  the  principle  of  an  hereditary 
sovereign.  France,  in  late  years,  and  in  the  new  world,  the  United  States,  have 
alone  chosen  another  form  of  government  altogether.  The  vast  majority  of 
the  less  important  countries — e.g.,  Holland  and  Belgium — have  followed  the 
same  example  in  preferring  an  hereditary  sovereign. 


248  EARLY    CHBISTIJNITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  followers  of  Jesus  in  the  latter  half  of  the  reign  of 
Severus,  continued,  but  more  languidly,  during  the  earty 
portion  at  least  of  his  successor,  Caracalla's,  rule.  Probably 
the  deeper  political  or  patriotic  reasons  which  moved  Severus 
and  his  advisers  to  persecute  were  absent  from  the  counsels 
of  the  more  careless  Caracalla.  This  Emperor  is,  however, 
generally  now  credited  with  the  passing  of  an  edict  which 
had  far-reaching  consequences  in  the  Empire,  and  which 
evidently  affected  adversely  certain  of  the  Christian  subjects 
of  Rome.  The  edict  to  which  we  refer  extended  the  privileges 
and  responsibilities  of  the  citizenship  of  Rome  to  dwellers 
in  the  provinces,  carrying  therewith  a  great  increase  in  the 
taxation,"^  to  which  provincials,  who  previously  did  not  possess 
the  rights  of  Roman  citizens,  were  now  liable.  It  was  for 
this  reason  that  this  far-reaching  edict  was  passed. 

It  curiously  affected  accused  Christians,  who,  when  charged 
with  the  crime  of  "  Christianity,"  had  not  infrequently  pleaded 
before  the  provincial  magistrates  their  Roman  citizenship,  and 
claimed  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  supreme  Imperial  tribunal 
of  Rome,  as,  in  fact,  Ave  see  S.  Paul  did  (Acts  of  the  Apostles 
xxii.  25-9,  xxiii.  27,  xxv.  10-12).  This  right  of  appeal  was 
also  claimed  by  the  Bithynian  Christians  when  accused  before 
Pliny  the  pro-praitor,  b}^  the  martyr  Attalus  at  Lyons  in  the 
persecution  in  the  daj^s  of  the  Emperor  Marcus,  etc.  But 
after  the  edict  of  Caracalla  Ave  find  in  the  A-arious  Acts  of  the 
martyrs  no  more  instances  of  such  appeals. 

The  neAv  edict  gave  a  provincial  official,  if  ill-disposed  to 
Christianity,  increased  poAver;  for  his  decision  in  the  case  of 
accused  Christians  was  henceforth  final.  No  Christian  could 
any  more  plead  the  special  right  of  citizenship  as  a  reason 
for  appeal  in  cases  of  condemnation. 

*  It  was  no  doubt  -with  the  view  of  raising  the  Imperial  revenue  that  this 
change  in  the  constitution  of  the  Empire  was  made.  When  the  privilege  of 
the  Roman  citizenship  was  so  indefinitely  multiplied,  the  value  natm-ally 
became  practically  nil.  A  citizen  of  Rome  was  liable  to  a  special  heavy  tax 
on  legacies  and  inheritances,  on  the  act  of  manumission  of  slaves,  etc.  Such  a 
tax  imposed  on  provincials  (for  as  Roman  citizens  they  would  henceforth  be  liable) 
would  of  course  largely  increase  the  revenue  I'eceipts ;  but  in  the  long  run  it 
would  serve  to  undermine  the  old  foundations  on  which  the  Empire  was  built  up. 


AFTER   THE  AXTONINES.  249 


SECTION  III. — FROM   CARACALLA  TO  DECIUS,  A.D.   211   TO  A.D.   249. 

Gradually  the  long  drawn  out  persecution  ceased.  After 
the  year  212  we  find  no  more  records  of  martyrdoms  in  the 
reign  of  Caracalla,  and  now  for  a  long  while  the  Church 
enjoyed  an  almost  unbroken  peace.  This  period  of  "  stillness  " 
is  said  to  have  lasted  some  thirty-seven  years,  uninterrupted 
save  by  the  short  outbreak  of  persecution  under  the  rule  of 
the  Emperor  Maximinus. 

Caracalla  was  assassinated  by  a  centurion  in  a  military 
intrigue,  a.d.  217,  and  for  a  few  months  the  throne  of  the 
Empire  was  occupied  by  an  ambitious  soldier,  Macrinus,  who  had 
tilled  the  office  of  Prffitorian  Prefect.  He,  too,  perished  in  an 
obscure  military  sedition,  probably  fomented  by  a  palace 
intrigue,  without  leaving  any  trace  of  his  short  reign  behind 
him.  The  palace  intrigues,  under  the  guidance  of  Julia  Maesa 
(the  sister  of  the  Empress  Julia  Domna,  the  widow  of  Severus), 
with  the  assistance  of  the  legionaries  of  the  Syrian  army, 
procured  the  succession  to  the  Empire  for  Elagabalus,  her 
grandson.  The  close  connection  of  the  new  Emperor  with 
the  great  Severus  seems  to  have  disarmed  any  serious  oppo- 
sition, and  Elagabalus  was  quietly  aclmowledged  Emperor 
A.D.  218.  Elagabalus  had  been  brought  up  and  trained  as 
chief  priest  of  the  Sun-god  of  Emesa  in  Syria,  and  during  his 
reign  of  four  years  seems  to  have  rated  his  position  and 
privileges  as  a  Syrian  Pontiff'  higher  than  any  titles  of  Imperial 
majesty.  His  sorry  distinction  among  the  long  line  of  Roman 
Emperors  was  his  exaggerated  devotion  to  his  Oriental  god. 
His  reign  was  disgraced  by  nameless  infamies,  and  by  his 
wild  extravagances  he  offended  and  shocked  all  that  was 
serious   and  patriotic   in   the   Empire.'*     His   one   notable   act 

*  The  Roman  was  specially  shocked  at  the  action  of  this  dissolute  and 
fanatical  Emperor-priest,  who,  bringing  the  sacred  black  stone  of  Emesa,  under 
which  form  the  sun  was  worshipped,  with  all  possible  solemnity  to  Rome,  pro- 
ceeded to  group  round  this  strange  object  of  Oriental  worship  all  that  was  most 
holy  and  venerated  in  a  Roman's  eyes,  such  as  the  sacred  fire  of  Vesta,  and 
the  shields  of  Mars,  with  the  view,  as  Lampridius  says,  "  Romanas  .  . 
exstinguere  religiones." 


250  EARLY    CHBISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

was  the  association  iu  the  supreme  power  of  his  cousin, 
Alexander  Severus ;  of  whom,  however,  he  soon  became  jealous, 
and  would  have  destroyed  him  had  he  not  himself  fallen  in 
one  of  those  military  seditions  which  were  too  common  in 
the  powerful  and  turbulent  army  of  Rome.  Elagabalus  had 
reigned  for  about  four  years  when  he  was  assassinated. 

The  Christian  in  the  reign  of  Elagabalus  was  not  merely 
tolerated,  he  was  even  looked  on  with  favour.  The  Christian 
religion,  coming  from  the  East,  was  regarded  with  special 
reverence  by  this  fanatical  Asiatic  devotee.  The  God  of  the 
Jew  and  the  Christian  he  even  deigned  to  admit  into  the 
most  sacred  shrine  of  his  Sun-god. 

When  Elagabalus  (ad.  218  to  a.d.  222)  fell,  his  cousin, 
whom  history  knows  as  Alexander  Severus,  was  at  once  recog- 
nised as  sole  Emperor.  During  his  reign  of  thirteen  years 
(a.d.  222  to  A.D.  235)  the  stillness  enjoyed  by  the  worshippers 
of  Jesus  in  the  days  of  his  unworthy  predecessor  and  cousin,  re- 
mained unbroken.  The  favour  shown  to  them  by  the  half- 
crazy  Emperor-priest  was  continued  for  more  worthy  reasons. 
It  was  a  quiet  time  indeed,  such  as  had  never  yet  been  ex- 
perienced by  the  Christians.  Historians  are  unanimous  in 
the  praise  of  the  great-nephew  ^  of  the  wife  of  Severus.  None 
of  the  Emperors  who  in  succession  sat  on  the  throne  of  the 
first  great  Csesar  have  a  fairer  record  than  he.  Surrounded 
by  wise  and  prudent  ministers,  his  whole  thoughts,  during 
his  too-short  life,  were  devoted  to  correct  the  abuses  which 
disfigured  the  Imperial  administration,  and  to  restore  the 
glories  and  felicity  of  the  age  of  the  noble  Antonines;  while 
every  endeavour  was  made,  though  with  only  partial   success 

*  Table  showing  family  connection  of  Alexander  Severus  with  the  Emperor 

Severus — 

Bassianus 


I  1 

A.D.  193-211.  Severus  (Emp.)=  Julia  Domna  Julia  Maesa 


I  III 

A.D.  211-  Caracalla  (Emp.)  Geta  (Emp.)     Soemias  Mamaja 

217  I  I 

A.D.  218-222.  Elagabalus  Alexander  Severus  (Emp.) 
(Emp  )  A.D.  222-235. 


AFTER  THE  ANTONINES.  251 

it  must  be  confessed,  to  re-introduce  something  of  tlie  ancient 
discipline  and  spirit  into  the  mighty  army  which  had  come 
to  regard  itself  as  the  maker  and  unmaker  of  the  sovereigns 
of  Rome. 

The  beautifid  character  of  this  Emperor  had  been  formed 
with  exceeding  care  by  his  mother  Mamasa,  the  niece,  as  we 
have  said,  of  the  Emj)ress  Julia  Domna.  Mamsea  some 
believe  to  have  been  a  Christian ;  she  certainly  was  strongl}'' 
influenced  by  the  words  and  writings  of  the  greatest  living 
Christian  teacher,  Origen.  Eusebius  (H.  E.,  vi.  21)  thus  writes 
of  this  princess:  "  Mamaja,  the  Emperor's  mother,  a  woman 
distinguished  for  her  piety  and  religion,  when  the  fame  of 
Origen  had  now  been  everywhere  spread  abroad,  so  that  it 
also  reached  her  ears,  was  very  eager  both  to  be  honoured 
with  the  sight  of  this  man,  and  to  make  trial  of  his  skill  in 
divine  things  so  greatly  extolled.  Therefore,  when  sta3dng 
at  Alexandria,  she  sent  for  him  .  .  .  With  her  he  (Origen) 
stayed  some  time,  exhibiting  innumerable  matters  calculated 
to  promote  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  to  evince  the  excellence 
of  divine  instruction." 

And  yet  it  Avould  be  an  error  to  imagine  that  this  amiable 
and  earnest  Alexander  Severus  was  a  Christian.  He,  too, 
following  the  example  of  such  eminent  Emperors  and  states- 
men as  Augustus  and  Marcus,  was  firmly  persuaded  that  the 
stabiUty  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  large  measure  rested  upon 
the  maintenance  of  the  ancient  traditions ;  and  these  were 
inextricably  mingled  mth  the  old  worship.  So  we  find  Alex- 
ander Severus  and  his  ministers'^  very  early  in  the  reign 
sending  back  to  its  original  home  in  Syrian  Emesa,  the 
black  stone  which  was  said  to  have  fallen  from  heaven,  with 
its  gorgeous  setting  of  gems,  which  represented  the  Sun-god  ; 
and  replacing  in  their  ancient  shrines  the  statues  and  im- 
memorial emblems  of  the  old  gods  of  Rome,  which  had  been 
moved  therefrom  by  Elagabalus. 

*  Through  the  infJuence  of  Mamfea,  his  mother,  the  youthful  Emperor,  from 
the  first,  was  surrounded  by  a  council  of  sixteen  Senators,  distinguished  for  their 
experience  and  patriotism.  Of  these  the  most  eminent  was  Ulpiauus  the  great 
Jurist,  who  afterwards  perished  in  a  military  emeute,  most  unfortunately  for  the 
Emx:)U'e. 


252  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

The  young  Emperor,  so  his  historians  tell  us,  in  the 
private  chapel  of  his  palace,  among  the  images  of  his  deified 
Imperial  predecessors,  j^laced  statues  of  others  who  he  con- 
sidered had  won  a  right  to  adoration.  Abraham  and  Jesus 
Christ  were  among  these.  One  fact  certainly  remains  un- 
challenged ;  during  the  years  of  Alexander  Severus'  rule 
the  Christian  lived  unmolested.  For  nigh  two  hundred 
years  his  position  in  the  Empire  had  been,  as  TertuUian 
curtly  puts  it,  "non  licet  esse  vos"  (it  is  not  lawful  to  be 
you).  The  historian'^  of  Alexander  Severus  sums  up  their 
position  under  that  Prince  thus :  "  Christianos  esse  passus 
est"  (He  suffered  men  to  be  Christians).  But  although  any- 
thing like  a  State  persecution  was  unheard  of  in  this  time, 
it  is  certain  that  the  followers  of  Jesus  were  still  occasionally 
exposed  to  the  danger  of  popular  fury,  which  ever  and  again, 
owing  to  the  causes,  whether  commercial,  domestic,  or  patriotic, 
on  which  we  have  dwelt,  broke  out  against  them. 

It  was  in  one  of  these  tumultuous  risings  no  doubt  that 
the  notorious  Bishop  of  Rome,  Callistus,  perished.  He  will 
come  before  us  presently  as  the  determined  opponent  of  the 
ascetic  or  rigourist  party  m  the  Church  of  Rome.  CaUistus 
was  a  great  organiser,  and  was  one  of  those  Ys"ho  largely 
increased  and  planned  out  that  vast  Necropolis  known  as 
the  Catacombs  beneath  the  suburbs  of  Rome,  to  one  of 
which,  under  the  Appian  Way,  he  has  bequeathed  his  name 
His  death  apparently  took  place  in  a  popular  uprising 
against  the  Christians  in  a.d.  222-3. 

But  the  Christians  of  the  Empire,  before  many  years  had 
passed,  experienced  a  much  ruder  awakening  from  their 
dreams  of  peace  and  quiet,  than  was  occasioned  by  such 
temporary  outbursts  of  popular  fanaticism.  In  the  year 
235  the  Roman  world  was  astonished  and  dismayed  to  hear 
that  the  young  Emperor  and  his  mother,  Mama^a,  after  some 
thirteen  years  of  Avise  and  temperate  rule,  had  been  basely 
assassinated  in  one  of  those  disastrous  military  revolts,  of 
too  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Roman  armies,  while  present 
with   the   army  of  Germany  in   its  camp  ;  and  that  the  chief 

_  *  Lampridius,  one  of  the  writers  of  the  "  Augustan  History.'' 


AFTER   THE  ANTONIXES.  253 

conspirator,  Maximinus,  a  rude  but  renowned  soldier  of 
barbarian  extraction,  his  father  being  a  Goth  and  his  mother 
an  Alan,  had  been  selected  Emperor  by  the  legionaries 
composing  this  great  frontier  army. 

The  reign  of  Maximinus  lasted  less  than  three  years ;  the 
soldier,  who  in  the  subordinate  position  of  tribune  of  a 
legion  had  won  a  high  reputation  for  his  admirable  powers 
of  discipline  and  military  administration,  as  Master  of  the 
Roman  world  showed  himself  a  monster  of  cruelty  and 
oppression.  He  was  dreaded  and  feared  by  all  ranks  and 
orders,  but  as  long  as  the  army,  who  admired  the  rough 
commander  whom  they  had  advanced  to  the  throne,  main- 
tained their  allegiance,  he  could  defy  in  safety  the  hatred 
and  dread  of  the  rest  of  the  Empire.  Through  an  insane 
jealousy  of  his  murdered  predecessor,  whose  grace  and  learn- 
ing formed  a  strange  contrast  to  his  own  rough,  coarse 
manners  and  lack  of  education,  he  hunted  down,  proscribed, 
and  banished  ail  who  were  in  any  way  associated  with  him. 
Hence  apparently  Maximinus'  hatred  of  Christians,  whom 
Alexander  Severus  certainly  tolerated,  if  he  did  not  absolutely 
favour  them.  For  there  is  no  doubt  that,  in  the  reign  of 
the  late  Emperor,  there  were  many  Christians  in  the  Imperial 
household,*  Mama3a,  his  mother,  being  a  Christian  in  all  but 
the  name. 

The  persecution  was  directed  first  against  the  more  promi- 
nent members  of  the  Church.  One  of  the  earliest  official 
documents  of  the  Roman  Church,  the  so-called  "  Liberian 
Catalogue"  of  a.d.  354,  which  reproduces  in  its  earlier  part 
a  yet  more  ancient  document,  tells  us  how  "  At  this  time 
(mentioning  the  Consuls  of  a.d.  235)  Pontianus  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  and  Hip])olytus  the  Presbyter  were  transported 
into  the  unhealthy  Island  of  Sardinia."  Pontianus,  when 
banished,   resigned    his    position    to   Anteros,   and    the   Liher 

*  Eusebius'  words  are  very  definite  here.  "The  Emperor  Alexander 
(Severus)  .  .  was  succeeded  by  Maximinus,  who,  inflamed  with  hate  against 
the  House  of  Alexander,  consisting  of  many  believers,  raised  a  persecution." 
Eusebius,  IT.  £.,  vi.  28.  The  "  House  of  Ctesar,"  the  "  Domus  Augusti,"  in  aU 
its  wide-reaching  signification,  has  been  fully  discussed  above.     See  p.  36. 


254  EABLY   GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Pontificalis  tells  us  how  he  was  tortured  and  scourged  in 
his  exile  and  died.  The  bodies  of  Pontianus  and  Hippo- 
lytus  were  eventually  brought  back  to  Rome.  Anteros  only 
lived  a  short  time  after  his  elevation. 

The  persecution  of  Maximinus  was  by  no  means  confined 
to  Rome ;  for  Origen  relates  how  great  were  the  sufferings 
endured  by  the  Christians  of  Cappadocia.  We  have  records, 
too,  telling  of  sufferings  endured  at  Alexandria  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  Empire.  Origen's  treatise,  "The  Exhortation," 
addressed  to  martyrs  {TIporpe7rTiKo<i  ek  Mapruptov),  was  written 
during  the  persecution  of  Maximinus. 

One  peculiar  feature  of  this  bitter  feeling  displayed  by 
the  Emperor  Maximinus  against  the  followers  of  Jesus  seems 
to  have  been  the  unchaining  of  the  evil  passions  of  the 
populace,  among  whom,  as  we  have  seen,  many  ill-wishers 
to  Christia,nity  were  always  found,  a  hostile  element  never 
difficult  to  arouse.  Origen  gives  us  a  vivid  picture  of  how 
this  spirit  of  enmity  was  stirred  up  at  this  time.  Several 
disastrous  shocks  of  earthquake  had  been  experienced.  The 
great  teacher  is  no  doubt  alluding  to  pro-consular  Asia  and 
the  neighbouring  provinces  of  Asia  Minor.  The  Pagan  foes 
of  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  spread  abroad  the  rumour 
that  all  such  unforeseen  calamities  as  earthquakes,  pestilences, 
famines,  and  even  Avars  were  the  outcome  of  Christian  teach- 
ing, which  urged  the  abandonment  of  the  worship  of  the 
gods,  who  by  means  of  the  earthquake,  the  famine,  etc., 
avenged  their  insulted  majesty.  In  this  persecution  of  the 
Christians  Origen  alludes  especially  to  the  burning  of  their 
churches."^ 

Happily  the  sufferings  of  the  Church  in  the  evil  reign  of 
Maximinus  continued  but  a  short  time.  During  the  two  to 
three  years  of  his  rule  he  never  visited  Rome ;  his  cruelty, 
however,  and  extraordinary  avarice  stirred  up  bitter  animosity 
in  all  parts  of  the  Empire.  The  temples  were  stripped  of  much 
of  their  wealth,  and  the  very  statues  of  the  gods  were  melted 

*  Origen,  Commentari/  on  S.  Matthew,  28.  The  churches  which  this  writer 
tells  us  were  burned  at  this  time  no  doubt  had  been  erected  in  the  long  period 
of  comparative  stillness  which  had  followed  the  death  of  the  first  Severus, 


AFTER   THE  ANTON'INES.  255 

down ;  much  of  this  sacrilegious  pkmder  was  distributed  among 
the  soldiers.  The  Emperor  was  generally  looked  upon  by  all 
outside  the  camps  of  the  legionaries  as  a  common  enemy 
of  humanity.  In  the  great  pro-consular  province  of  North 
Africa,  the  universal  discontent  first  took  shape  in  the 
form  of  a  rebellion  against  the  unworthy  and  hated  Maxi- 
minus,  and  Gordian,  the  Pro-consul,  an  illustrious  and  wealthy 
senator,  was  saluted  as  Emperor.  With  this  Gordian,  who 
was  over  eighty  years  of  age,  his  son  was  associated.  Rome 
and  the  Senate  ratified  the  election  of  pro-consular  Africa. 
Their  reign  was,  however,  brief.  For  the  forces  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Gordians  were  defeated  by  a  band  of 
legionaries  faithful  to  Maximinus,  and  Gordian  and  his  son 
perished :  the  son  in  battle,  the  father  by  his  own  hand 
after  the  defeat. 

The  elder  Gordian  was  an  admirable  example  of  a  Roman 
"grand  seigneur."  Descended  on  his  father's  side  from  the 
Gracchi,  on  his  mother's  from  the  Emperor  Trajan,  he  owned 
one  of  those  vast  estates  situate  in  Italy  and  Sicily,  in  Africa 
and  Asia,  which  have  never  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  private 
individual  save  to  the  members  of  these  patrician  houses  of 
the  earlier  da3's  of  the  Empire.  Besides  his  stately  Roman 
palace  with  its  ancient  trophies  and  gorgeous  decoration, 
once  the  dwelling  of  the  great  Pompey,  his  villa  on  the  road 
to  Prasneste  was  celebrated  for  its  splendour  among  a  host 
of  similar  beautiful  houses.  It  contained,  we  read,  besides 
baths  of  rare  magnificence  and  size,  three  stately  halls,  each 
of  a  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  a  mighty  portico,  resting  on 
two  hundred  columns  of  rare  and  costly  marbles.  This  great 
noble  was  at  once  a  writer  and  philosopher,  a  student  of 
Plato,  and  an  imitator  and  passionate  admirer  of  Virgil,  the 
patriot  poet  who  sang  the  immortal  glories  and  virtues  of 
immemorial  Rome.  This  eminent  patrician  spent  his  life  in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  most  pure  and  lofty  tastes ;  and  yet 
he  thought  it  a  righteous  act  to  use  his  well-nigh  countless 
revenues  in  entertaining  the  people,  when  he  filled  the  offices 
of  ffidile  or  of  consul,  by  repeated  shows,  month  after  month, 
of  the   shameful   amphitheatre   games ;     those    games    which 


266  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

inflamed  the  minds  of  the  populace  with  a  passion  for 
blood  and  lust,  and  taught  them  to  disregard  human 
sufferings  and  to  hold  cheap  human  life  and  happiness — 
games  in  which  three  hundred  to  a  thousand  gladiators 
fought!  Such  were  the  strange  contrasts  which  filled  the 
lives  of  the  noblest  and  most  cultured  of  the  Masters  of  the 
world — of  the  men  who  for  two  hundred  and  eighty  years 
fought  the  life  and  death  battle  with  that  quiet,  unresisting 
sect  who  followed  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  counted  it  the 
hiq-hest  honour  to  die  for  His  ISame  and  then  to  lie  in 
those  long  corridors  of  death  adorned  with  the  rough  paint- 
ings of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  the  symbols  of  a  redeemed 
soul' and  of  a  blessed  Paradise  Home. 

But  although  the  revolt  of  North  Africa  ended  with  the 
defeat  and  death  of  the  Gordians,  father  and  son,  the  Koman 
Senators,  powerless  in  the  face  of  the  mighty  armies  of  the 
Emperor  though  they  seemed  to  be,  flinched  not  from  their 
determination  to  dethrone  the  detested  soldier-tyrant  Maxi- 
minus,  and  immediately  invested  two  of  the  most  worthy 
members  of  their  augTist  body  with  the  Imperial  purple. 
These  were  Maximus  and  Balbinus,  patricians  and  men 
of  consular  dignity.  With  these  two  they  associated  a  third, 
a  scion  of  the  Gordian  family,  out  of  respect  for  the  memory 
of  the  princes  who  had  just  laid  down  their  lives  for  the 
State.  The  Emperor  Maximinus,  hearing  of  this  revolt  against 
his  authority,  hurried  from  the  banks  of  the  distant  Danube  to 
meet  the  forces  raised  by  the  Emperors  chosen  by  the  Senate. 
For  a  brief  time  the  issue  of  the  war  was  doubtful,  but 
happily  for  the  fate  of  Rome  the  cruel  tyrant  was  mur- 
dered as  he  was  besieging  the  frontier  city  of  Aquileia,  by  his 
own  soldiers  (a.d.  238).  The  joy  of  the  Roman  world  at  the  fall 
of  the  cruel  and  avaricious  soldier  was  universal,  but  alas,  Maxi- 
mus and  Balbinus  soon  perished,  assassinated  by  some  soldiers 
in  a  military  tumult  at  Rome.  The  boy  Gordian,  however, 
who,  by  the  Senate,  had  been  associated  with  them  in  the 
purple,  survived,  and  was  universally  acknowledged  Emperor. 

With  the  fall  of  the  tyrant  Maximinus  the  persecution  of 
the  Christians  ceased. 


AFTER   THE    ANTOXINES.  257 

During  the  five  or  six  years  wlien  the  boy  Gordian  was 
nominally  Emperor  (he  was  only  nineteen  years  old  when  he 
in  turn  was  murdered),  the  Christians  were  not  interfered  with. 
After  a  period  of  some  confusion  in  the  Government,  an  able 
and  distinguished  minister,  Timesitheus,  came  into  power  as 
Praetorian  Prefect,  and  the  young  Emperor  Gordian  married 
his  daughter ;  but  once  more  the  overbearing  intrigues  of  the 
all-powerful  army  put  an  end  to  the  anticipation  of  a  wise 
and  beneficent  rule.  Timesitheus,  the  minister,  died  suddenly, 
not  without  the  gravest  suspicion  that  his  end  had  been 
hastened  by  poison,  and  the  year  following  Gordian  the 
Emperor  was  cruelly  murdered  with  the  consent,  if  not  by 
the  direct  command,  of  Philip,  a  successful  and  popular 
general,  whom  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  soldiery  had  raised 
to  the  throne. 

Again  and  again  the  historian  of  the  Roman  Empire  has 
to  relate  the  sudden  advent  to  supreme  power  of  a  military 
chief  who,  by  his  success  in  w^ar  and  his  sldll  in  attaching  to 
his  person  the  affection  of  the  soldiers,  had  won  the  devotion 
and  support  of  the  legionaries  under  his  command.  The  great 
Roman  armies,  mostl}'  stationed  in  the  frontier  provinces, 
were  composed  of  men  drawn  not  only  from  the  various 
provinces  of  the  Empire,  but  also  largely  recruited  from  the 
barbarian  hordes  beyond  the  borders.  This  great  mass  of 
trained  soldiers  was  bound  by  but  slender  ties  to  the  Senate, 
who  still  wielded  a  nominal  superintendence  over  the  Govern- 
ment ;  the  ancient  time-honoured  traditions  of  Rome  exercised 
but  little  influence  over  these  armed  and  powerful  mercenaries. 
Now  it  is  the  army  of  Germany,  now  the  legionaries  of  Gaul 
and  Britain,  now  the  soldiers  of  the  force  giiarding  the  frontiers 
of  distant  Asia,  whom  we  find  by  their  tumultuous  election 
exalting  to  the  throne  of  the  Empire  some  favourite  general. 

In  this  particular  instance,  the  army  of  Asia  chose  an 
Emperor  known  in  history  as  Phihp  the  Arabian,  who  pos- 
sesses in  our  story  of  the  fortunes  of  the  early  Church  a 
peculiar  interest,  for  he  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  Christian 
Emperor.     Philip's  reign  lasted  from  a.d.  244  to  a.d.  249. 

Little  is  known  of  the  early  years  of  this  Philip,  an  Arab 

R 


258  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

by  birth.  We  hear  of  him  first  in  command  of  the  Roman 
force  in  the  Persian  campaign  undertaken  in  the  days  of  the 
younger  Gordian.  When  Timesitheus,  the  father-in-law  of 
the  Emperor,  died,  Philip  received  from  the  young  Emperor 
the  appointment  of  Praetorian  Prefect,  and  in  the  obscure 
intrigues  which  followed  the  death  of  Timesitheus,"^  Philip 
was  saluted  Emperor  by  the  army,  Gordian  meeting  with  the 
tragic  fate  so  sadly  common  in  the  case  of  the  sovereigns 
not  in  favour  with  the  turbulent  legionaries.  In  this  murder 
Philip  was  apparently  deeply  implicated. 

Immediately  after  his  accession  the  new  military  sovereign, 
having  concluded  a  peace  with  the  Persians,  set  out  for  Rome, 
passing  Antioch  on  his  way.  A  strange  story  is  told  of  a 
scene  which,  in  the  course  of  his  journey,  took  place  in  the 
Syrian  capital. 

The  Emperor,  we  read,  was  a  Christian,  and  on  the  Easter 
Eve  of  the  year  244  he  presented  himself  at  the  church  at 
the  hour  of  prayer.  The  Bishop  of  Antioch,  Babylas,  who 
subsequently  received  the  honours  of  saintship,  sternly  refused 
admission  to  the  sovereign  till  he  should  have  gone  through 
the  appointed  discipline  of  a  penitent  for  some  grave  crime 
which  he  had  committed.  Most  probably  this  crime  was  his 
complicity  in  the  murder  of  Gordian.  The  story  is  told  by 
Eusebius  (H.  E.  VI.  34),  who  speaks  of  the  "many  crimes 
which  he  had  committed,"  and  adds  that  the  Emperor  is  said 
'to  have  obeyed  willingly,  and  to  have  exhibited  a  genuine 
and  religious  disposition  in  regard  to  his  fears  of  God." 

Chrysostom  repeats  the  story  with  more  details,  commenting 
on  the  conduct  of  Bishop  Babylas,  who  he  says  "acted  like  a 
good  shepherd  who  drives  away  the  scabby  sheep  lest  it 
should    infect    the    tiock."  t       This    same    Babylas    afterwards 

*  This  is  the  minister  who  is  styled  Misitheus  in  Gibbon,  chap.  vii. 
Tiinesilhciis  is  now  generally  accepted  as  the  more  accurate  name. 

t  Considerable  doubt  is  entertained  by  some  historians  as  to  the  truth  of 
this  strange  story,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  told  formally  by 
Eusebius,  writing  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  fourth  century,  and  repeated  by 
Chrysostom  with  more  details,  but  with  some  confusion  as  to  the  exact  date,  at 
the  end  of  the  same  century  (the  fourth).  It  is  thus  improbable  that  Chrysostom 
■merely   copied   from   Eusebius.       We    find    it   later,    told    in   the  Chron.    Pasch., 


AFTER    THE    AXTONINES.  259 

tjuffered  martyrdom  in  the  course  of  the  persecution  of  the 
Emperor  Decius. 

Orosius,  the  Christian  historian  (Century  V.),  speaks  of 
Philip  as  the  first  Christian  Emperor,  and  dwells  on  his 
devotion  to  the  Church ;  be  that  how  it  may,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  Christian  Church  during  his  reign  enjoyed  a 
time  of  perfect  quietness,  and  was  absolutely  free  from  all 
persecution. 

In  his  reign  the  secular  games  were  celebrated  at  Rome 
with  extraordinary  pomp,  for  the  fifth  time  since  the  famous 
representation  by  Augustus,  a.d.  17,  when  Horace  wrote  his 
well-known  Cannen  Seculare.  The  occasion,  in  the  days 
of  Philip,  was  the  accomplishment  of  the  full  period  of  a 
thousand  years  from  the  foundation  by  Romulus.  Orosius,'^ 
^vho  wrote  about  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  days  of 
Philip,  saw  the  hand  of  Providence  in  the  fact  of  a  Christian 
Emperor  of  Rome  being  chosen  to  presidef  over  so  memor- 
able a  celebration. 

It  is,  however,  very  doubtful  if  Philip  ever  publicly  declared 
himself  a  Christian,  for  the  secular  games,  which  were 
celebrated  in  the  year  248,  were  accompanied  with  an 
elaborate  Pagan  ritual.  Mystic  sacrifices  were  offered  during 
three  nights  on  the  bank  of  the  Tiber,  and  a  chorus  ef 
noble  youths  and  virgins  prayed  in  their  religious  hymns  to 
the    immortal    gods   to   maintain   the    virtue,    the    happiness, 


-where  it  is  stated  Philip's  Empress  was  likewise  repelled  from  the  church  by 
the  Bishop.  Allard,  Histoire  des  Persecutions  (vol.  ii.,  chap,  vi.),  accepts  the  story 
-as  genuine,  as  does,  apparently,  Renan,  Marc  Aurele  (p,  08(3,  Note  2),  who  cites 
the  conduct  of  Babylas  on  this  occasion  as  a  proof  of  the  important  position  held  by 
Bishops  in  the  third  century.  Bishop  Lightfoot  {Ignatius,  vol.  i.,  p.  40-1)  at  some 
length  repeats  the  incident,  and  quotes  the  authorities  for  it,  but  gives  no  opinion 
as  to  the  authenticity  or  otherwise  of  the  event  in  question. 

*  Orosius,  a  Christian  writer,  born  in  Spain  at  the  close  of  the  fourth  century, 
was  a  pupil  of  S.  Augustine  and  a  friend  of  S.  Jerome.  His  most  celebrated 
•work,  Historiarum  adversus  Paganos  libri  septem,  was  undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of 
Augustine.  It  had  once  a  wide  circulation,  and  was  translated  and  slightly 
abridged  by  King  Alfred  of  England,  whose  rendering  of  the  work  is  still 
«xtant. 

t  "  Nil  dubium  est  quin  Philippus  hujus  tantsB  devotionis  gratiam  et  honorem 
ad  Christum  et  Ecclesiam  reportarit."     (Orosius,  Hist.  vii.  20.) 


260  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

and  the  Empire  of  the  Roman  people.  There  is  no  con- 
temporary record  showing  that  the  "  Christian "  Emperor 
in  any  way  decHned  to  share  in  these  ancient  Pagan  rites 
The  framework  of  Roman  society  in  the  days  of  PhiHp 
evidently  remained  unchanged  in  its  exclusively  Pagan 
character ;  on  the  buildings  and  on  the  coins  of  the  period 
the  Emperor  is  still  styled  the  Chief  Pontiff  of  the  old 
religion. 

Only  one  circumstance  in  the  public  life  of  Philip  seems 
to  point  to  any  public  acknowledgment  of  his  profession 
of  Christianity.  The  Arval  Brotherhood*  one  of  the  most 
ancient  and  distinguished  of  the  Pagan  sacred  colleges, 
appears  to  have  suddenly  come  to  an  end  in  this  reign. 
After  the  times  of  Gordian  we  find  no  mention  on  any 
tablet  of  the  acts  and  ceremonies  of  the  Arvals.  There  is 
still  in  existence  a  long  series  (some  sixty-seven  tablets  in 
all)  of  memoranda  of  the  proceedings  of  this  religious  college 
drawn  up  by  themselves  and  engraved  on  stone  or  marble 
tablets,  beginning  in  a.d.  14  and  extending  to  the  time  of 
Gordian ;  but  then  they  cease.  Among  the  twelve  noble 
personages  who  formed  this  exclusive  Pagan  brotherhood 
during  the  time  of  the  Empire,  the  Emperor  himself  seems 
to  have  been  always  included.  Since,  after  an  almost 
immemorial  history  (for  they  date  back  to  the  legendary 
period  of  Romulus),  the  Arvals  evidently  had  come  to  an 
end  in  the  reign  of  Philip,  it  seems,  at  least,  a  probable 
conclusion  to  draw  that  Philip  himself  put  an  end  to 
this  important  Pagan  association.  The  share  which  he,  as 
Emperor  and  head  of  the  order,  would  have  to  take,  as  each 
year  came  round,  in  the  strange  idolatrous  rites  of  the 
Arvals  before  the  harvest,  would  be  eminently  distasteful  to 
one  who  had  accepted  the  teaching  of  Christianity. 

We  have  thus,  in  the  sketch  of  the  life  of  the  first 
reputed  Christian  Emperor — in  which  he  appears  now  a 
devout  and  even  a  penitent   member   of  the   Christian   com- 

*  An  account  of  the  famous  Pagan  sacred  confraternity  has  been  already  given, 
with  some  details  respecting  their  peculiar  rites,  and  the  exalted  rank  of  the: 
members.     See  p.  IGl. 


AFTER    THE   AXT0NINE8.  261 

munity,  now  a  worshipper,  and  a  Chief  Pontiff  of  the 
old  gods  of  Rome — a  notable  but  evidently  not  an  unusual 
example  of  the  extreme  difficulty  in  which  a  high  official  of 
the  Empire,  who  was  a  Christian,  in  the  middle  of  the 
third  century,  was  placed. 

Such  a  man  in  the  course  of  his  duties  found  himself 
mixed  up  with,  positively  hemmed  in  by,  Pagan  rites  of 
an  immemorial  antiquity,  which  it  Avas  difficult,  even 
dangerous,  to  ignore ;  for  such  an  ignoring  would  signify  a 
breaking  off  abruptly  with  all  the  storied  past  of  Rome,  a 
past  very  dear  and  precious  to  not  a  few  patriotic  and  serious 
Romans. 

Some,  possibly  many,  like  Philip,  seem  to  have  adopted  a 
middle  course,  complying  with  certain  of  the  more  prominent 
official  requirements  of  Paganism,  and  generally  ignoring  the 
less  public  functions  when  deeply  coloured  with  idolatrous 
rites  and  customs.  Such  men  professed  Christianity,  which 
they  felt  was  true,  but  continued  to  hold  their  official  position, 
making  such  concession  to  old  customs  as  they  deemed 
necessary. 

It  may  not  have  been,  nay,  it  certainly  was  not,  the  noblest 
choice  of  life,  but  we  have  simply  to  deal  with  history,  and 
to  relate  what  actually  happened. 

At  all  events,  while  Philip  reigned,  the  vast  body  of 
Christians  in  the  Empire  were  unmolested,  and  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  "  stillness  "  they  enjoyed,  their  numbers  rapidly 
increased. 

The  reign  of  Philip,  like  the  reign  of  so  many  of  his 
predecessors,  was  cut  short  in  a  military  revolt.  The  succes- 
sive murders  of  a  line  of  Emperors  had  effectually  destroyed 
all  feeling  of  loyalty  in  the  Empire,  and  a  sudden  revolt  of  one 
of  the  greater  armies  at  any  moment  might  make  or  unmake 
the  sovereign  of  the  Roman  world. 

Such  an  uprising  took  place  the  year  following  the  cele- 
bration of  the  secular  games,  in  the  army  of  Moesia,  a  vast 
province  on  the  Danube,  roughly  corresponding  with  the 
modern  states  of  Bulgaria  and  Servia.  Strangely  enough, 
Philip   seems   to   have   been   unnerved    at   the  intelligence   of 


262  EARLY    GHRLSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  military  revolt  in  question.  He  appointed  Decius,  an 
aible  administrator  of  Senatorial  rank,  to  restore  order  among 
the  Moesian  legionaries.  But  his  emissary  was  saluted  by  the 
revolted  army  as  Emperor.  In  the  short  war  that  followed 
Philip  perished — it  is  uncertain  whether  in  battle  or  by  assas- 
sination— and  Decius  was  at  once  acknowledged  as  sovereign 
in  his  room,  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  249. 

Orosius  suggests  that  the  Christianity  of  Philip  had  raised 
up  many  enemies  among  the  Pagan  party,  and  that  his 
sudden  fall  must  partly,  at  least,  be  attributed  to  his  marked 
favoiu-  towards  the  dreaded  religion.''^ 

*  Tilleinout,  Jlisf.  dcs  Empcrmrs,  vol.  iii.,  shares  in  thia  conclusion  of 
Orosius,  when  he  writes,  "  La  foi  de  Philippe  fiit  malheureuse  devant  les  hoinmes 
et  heureuse  devant  Dieu." 


263 


CHAPTER    XL 

THE   CATACOMBS   OF   R03IE. 
SECTION   I. — ORIGIX   OF   THE   CATACOMBS. 

It  is  now  time  to  give  some  details  of  the  inner  life  of  the 
Church,  fi-om  the  first  years  of  the  third  century  onwards. 

In  this  picture,  the  wonderful  city  of  the  dead,  usuall}' 
known  as  the  Catacombs  of  Rome,  requires  a  somewhat 
detailed  mention.  We  must  paint  with  some  care  those  vast 
undergi'ound  cemeteries  which  lie  beneath  the  suburbs  of 
Rome,  with  their  endless  streets  of  tombs,  and  their  countless 
chapels,  adorned  with  paintings,  inscriptions,  and  roughly 
sculptured  designs,  all  throwing  light  upon  the  doctrines, 
belief,  hopes  and  onlooks  of  the  Christians  of  the  first  days. 

And  this  seems  to  be  the  place  in  our  history  marked 
out  for  this  special  study.  For  in  the  very  earliest  years  of 
the  third  century,  circa  a.d.  202-3,  these  cemeteries,  some  of 
which  in  their  beginnings  date  back  to  the  reign  of  Domitian, 
and  even  of  Nero,  assumed  a  new  and  more  prominent  place 
in  the  great  Roman  community. 

Zephyrinus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  a.d.  202-218,  formaUj^  placed 
the  great  cemetery,  which  lay  beneath  the  vineyards  fringing  the 
Appian  Way,  under  the  special  charge  of  his  deacon,  the 
famous  Callistus;  who  in  the  end  became  himself  Bishop  of 
the  Church  in  Rome,  and  by  whose  name  the  cemetery,  which 
was  greatly  enlarged  and  adorned  by  him,  became  generally 
known.  Thus,  in  the  earliest  years  of  the  third  centur}-  this 
great  city  of  the  dead  passed  out  of  private  hands,  out  of 
the  control  of  individual  members  of  the  churches,  becoming 
pare  of  the  public  property  of  the  Christian  community:  and 


264  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  general  superintendence  of  these  vast  cemeteries  and  of  all 
the  mighty  network  of  meeting-rooms  and  chapels  contained 
in  them,  was  henceforth  vested  in  an  important  functionary  of 
the  Koman  congregation. 

Care  for  the  dead  was  a  distinguishing  feature  of  the  early 
Christian  Church.  Of  this  marked  characteristic,  the  Roman 
Catacombs  form  perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  example. 

In  the  course  of  the  third  century  this  sacred  possession 
of  the  Church  was  enormously  developed ;  its  dark  corridors 
and  sepulchral  chambers  were  the  scenes  of  some  of  the 
more  striking  events  of  the  Christian  story  in  Rome  in  the 
days  when  persecution  weighed  heavily  on  the  Church. 

From  the  earliest  period  of  the  existence  of  the  Roman 
community  of  Christians,  as  far  back  probably  as  the  days 
of  the  Apostles,  the  disciples  of  Jesus  loved  to  adorn  the  city 
of  their  loved  dead  with  paintings,  inscriptions,  or  carved 
devices.  Many  of  these  are  still  to  be  seen,  in  spite  of  the 
ravages  of  time,  the  havoc  of  persecution,  the  plundering  of 
barbaric  raiders,  m  later  days  the  well-meant  but  well-nigh 
equally  destructive  operations  of  bishops  of  Rome  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  v^^ho  removed  many  thousand 
bodies  of  martyrs  and  others  to  places  they  deemed  more 
secure  and  possessed  of  a  greater  sanctity.  Some  of  these 
corridors  and  chapels  are  uncovered  each  year.  The  paintings, 
sculptured  devices  and  inscriptions,  marred  and  defaced  though 
they  are,  constitute  a  simple  and  absolutely  authoritative  piece 
of  testimony  to  the  faith  and  the  hope  of  the  believers,  which 
gave  them  courage  to  endure  all  their  sufferings  in  the  two 
centuries  and  a  half  which  elapsed  between  the  martyrdom 
of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  and  the  epoch  of  the  triumph  of  the 
Church  under  Constantino. 

Even  the  Pagans  of  Rome  paid  much  attention  to  the 
remains  of  their  dead — the  ashes,  preserved  in  a  funeral  urn 
when  the  body  had  been  consumed  on  the  pyre.  The  wealthy 
Romans  loved  to  erect  tombs  on  the  borders  of  the  highways. 
The  ruins  of  a  long,  apparently  interminable,  line  of  more  or 
less  stately  sepulchral  buildings  are  still  to  be  seen,  on  the  Appian 
Way  and  other  great  roads  outside  Rome.     Round  the  chapel 


THE    CATACOMBS    OF   HOME.  265 

{cella  ineinorue)  whicli  not  infrequently  must  have  been  an  im- 
portant building,  were  gardens  carefully  tended.  In  the  chapel 
the  ashes  of  the  dead  were  preserved  in  a  funeral  urn.  These 
roads,  so  lined  with  sepulchral  buildings,  were  the  popular 
and  fashionable  resort  of  the  Roman  world,  and  the  living 
looked  forward  to  the  time  when  they,  too,  would  rest  in 
these  well-known  spots,  in  the  midst  of  familiar  sights  and 
sounds.  It  was  a  strange  and  fanciful  conception  of  a  future 
state  to  be  spent,  at  all  events  for  a  time,  apparently  in  a 
dreamy,  semi-conscious  state.  Sometimes  these  wealthy 
Romans  would  build  such  a  sepulchre  in  the  garden  surrounding 
their  villas.  We  find  inscriptions  on  their  tombs  to  this  effect : 
"  In  sarcophago  in  hortulis  nostris  secessimus "  ("  We  are 
in  retirement  in  a  sarcophagus  in  our  own  gardens ") ;  or  "  In 
agelluiis  meis  secessi  "  ("  I  am  in  retirement  in  my  own  little 
domain  "). 

The  poor,  who  made  up  the  vast  majority  of  the  Roman 
world,  of  course  made  no  pretensions  to  this  luxury  in  death. 
But  they,  too,  from  the  small  merchant  or  trader  down  to 
the  slave,  made  provision,  if  it  were  possible,  for  their  "  ashes." 
There  were  a  number  of  associations  and  "  guilds,"  to  use  the 
mediaeval  term,  among  the  less  wealthy  Romans,  the  large 
majority  of  which  were  really  burial  societies,  whose  raison 
d'etre  was  the  provision  of  a  fitting  burial  place  for  the  ashes 
of  the  members.  They  were  commonly  designated  by  a 
religious  title,  such  as,  "  The  Society  of  the  Gidtores  (wor- 
shippers) of  Jove,  Hercules,  Diana,"  etc.  Sometimes,  however, 
they  were  named  after  their  founder  or  his  family.  Some  of 
these  death  guilds  were  comparatively  wealthy,  many  of  them 
extremely  poor.  Their  primary  object  was  to  erect  a  "  Colum- 
barium," a  building  so  arranged  as  to  receive  a  number  of 
funeral  urns,  each  containing  the  ashes  of  a  departed  member 
of  the  guild.  In  some  cases,  when  the  expense  could  be 
afforded,  a  "  sacerdos,"  or  chaplain,  was  provided  for  the 
Columbarium,  whose  duty  it  was  to  perform  the  Pagan  funeral 
rites  for  each  departed  member  of  the  guild.  Not  infrequently 
a  wealthy  person  came  forward  as  patron  and  piously  assisted 
these   poor   communities   in  the  erection  and  maintenance  of 


266  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

their  Columbarium,  sometimes  even  arranging  and  main- 
tainino^  a  garden  round  the  building  where  the  funeral  urns 
were  deposited,  and  where  on  certain  days  the  confraternity 
would  meet  and  enjoy  a  common  meal  together.  The  cost 
of  securinsf  a  niche  with  funeral  rites  in  one  of  these  Colum- 
baria  varied  considerably.  A  ver}^  small  sum  indeed  was 
necessary  in  the  case  of  the  members  of  the  poorer  associations. 
In  some  cases,  three  hundred,  or  even  two  hundred,  sesterces 
(rather  less  than  £2  sterling)  is  mentioned  as  the  amount 
paid  for  this  privilege. 

The  same  desire  to  provide  fitting  resting-places  for  their 
dead  was  even  more  pronounced  among  the  Christians.  But 
whereas  among  the  Pagan  subjects  of  the  Empire  the  body 
was  burned  and  only  a  handful  of  ashes,  representing  the 
departed,  was  carefully  preserved  in  a  little  vase  and  deposited 
often,  though  not  always,  in  a  separate  sepulchre  in  the 
case  of  the  rich,  or  in  a  building  (Columbarium)  adapted  to 
hold  very  many  such  little  vases  in  the  case  of  the  poor; 
among  the  Christians  the  body  of  the  dead  was  never  burned, 
but  was  reverently  wrapped  in  cloths,  more  or  less  costly^ 
and  so  interred. 

By  the  Roman  law,  land  that  was  used  for  the  purposes 
of  burial  was  especially  protected.  In  this  protection  of  the 
State  the  Christian  places  of  interment  shared.  The  spot 
where  a  body  was  buried  became  at  once,  in  the  technical 
language  of  the  law,  "  religious,"  and  was  inalienable,  secure 
for  ever  from  disturbance.  A  special  ritual  consecration, 
which  such  a  spot  usually  received  in  the  case  of  the 
Pagans,  throw  a  peculiar  veil  of  protection  over  the  garden 
and  any  enclosure  around  the  tomb  or  tombs  or  Colum- 
barium. Such  ritual  consecration,  of  course,  was  never  sought 
by  the  Christians,  as  it  involved  certain  idolatrous  ceremonies ; 
but  this  disadvantage  was  usually  made  good  to  them  in 
their  case  by  some  deed  of  gift  or  testament  on  the  part  of 
the  proprietor.  Thus  from  very  early  times  the  graves  and 
the  grounds  immediately  surrounding  them,  set  apart  for 
burying  the  dead  belonging  to  the  Christians,  were  placed 
under  the  protection  of  the  law. 


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THE    CATACOMBS    OF  B03IE.  267 

From  the  early  days  of  the  formation  of  Christian  coui- 
mimities  the  behevers  in  Jesus  shrank  from  sharing  their 
last  resting-  places  with  Pagans.  Their  aversion  to  the  usual 
custom  of  burning  the  dead  was  an  additional  reason  for 
desiring  separate  places  of  interment. 

In  tracing  the  story  of  Christian  interment,  the  Roman 
Christian  community  may  be  taken  as  typical.  In  the  first 
century  several  Christians  of  fortune,  arranging  in  the  gardens 
of  their  villas  or  in  some  pleasaunce  or  vineyard  belonging 
to  them,  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  city,  a 
tomb  for  the  burial  of  members  of  their  house,  including 
freedmen  and  slaves,  would  dig  a  few  small  sepulchral 
chambers  beneath,  or  close  to,  the  family  burying  place.  They 
were  thus  enabled  to  offer  to  certain  poorer  brethren  the 
"  hospitality  of  the  tomb,"  as  it  has  been  termed ;  the  peculiar 
nature  of  the  soil  of  the  country  around  Rome  being  especially 
favourable  for  such  excavations.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
that  vast  system  of  underground  corridors  and  chambers  for 
the  reception  of  the  Christian  dead  now  known  as  the  Roman 
Catacombs.  There  is  an  admirable  example  of  such  an  early 
arranofement  for  the  interment  of  the  Christian  dead  which 
still  exists  about  two  miles  from  Rome  on  the  Yia  Ardeatina, 
near  the  Appian  Way.  It  is  known  as  the  Cemetery  of 
Domitilla.  The  original  family  tomb,  erected  probably  before 
the  owner  was  converted  to  Christianity,  was  evidently  a 
gracious  and  ornate  building.  Behind  it,  beneath  the 
vines  and  gardens  of  the  proprietor,  there  is  a  crypt  of 
considerable  size,  with  Ions:  corridors  and  chambers  ar- 
ranged  for  a  number  of  the  dead,  much  of  the  masonry  and 
ornamentation  belonging  to  the  last  quarter  of  the  first 
century. 

There  are  other  crypts  or  cemeteries  on  all  sides  of  Rome, 
evidently  excavated  on  a  similar  plan,  with  gardens  and 
vinevards  surroundinsf  the  tomb  of  some  OTeat  and  noble 
Roman  converted  to  Christianity,  and  arranged  for  the 
reception  of  the  many  poor  brethren  who  belonged  to  the 
communities  of  Christians  in  the  first  and  second  centuries. 
As   for   instance,    the   cemeteries    of    S.    Priscilla   on   the    Via 


268  EALLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Salaria;  S.  Lucina  on  the  Ostian  Way;  S.  Prastextatus  on 
the  Appian  Way,  and  several  others;  where  the  masonry  and 
decoration  of  the  corridors  and  sepulchral  chambers  indicate 
their  date  as  between  a.d.  160,  or  even  earlier,  and  a.d.  200. 
These  early  cemeteries,  with  their  time-faded  frescoes,  their, 
broken,  partly  ruined,  fittings,  suppty  much  information 
respecting  the  ritual  and  faith  of  the  Roman  congregations 
during  the  century  and  a  half  upon  which  we  have  been 
dwelling,  and  the  countless  loculi,  the  narrow  closed-up 
shelves  where  the  dead  were  laid,  give  us  some  idea  of  the 
great  numbers  of  the  believers. 

The  modern  name  of  Catacombs  was  unknown  to  those 
Christian  communities  who,  with  enormous  pains  and  labour 
and  with  no  little  skill,  planned  and  excavated  these  resting 
places  for  their  loved  dead ;  nor  was  it  heard  of  for  several 
centuries  after  these  cemeteries  had  ceased  to  be  used  as 
places  of  interment.  The  term  "  catacomb "  is  derived  from 
the  Greek  words  kuto,  kvix^t],  the  latter  word  signifying  a 
hollow  or  valley  {cf.  cwm,  combe).  The  district  on  the  Appian 
Way  near  the  well-known  tomb  of  Cecilia  Metella,  where  the 
ancient  little  basilica  of  S.  Sebastian  now  stands,  seems  to 
have  been  originally  known  as  ad  cafacumha-s  ("The  Hollow"). 
In  the  earlier  part  of  the  ninth  century,  partly  owing  to 
the  repeated  barbarian  raids,  in  the  course  of  which  these 
cemeteries  had  been  several  times  visited  and  pillaged,  partly 
owing  to  the  destructive  anxiety  of  certain  of  the  Popes  of 
Rome,  who  had  removed  many  of  the  bodies  of  the  most 
prominent  saints  and  martyrs  from  their  original  resting 
places  to  what  they  deemed  the  more  secure  custody  of 
certain  of  the  Roman  churches,  the  famous  subterranean 
cemeteries  gradually  ceased  to  be  an  object  of  interest  and 
of  pilgrimage,  and  became  in  time  forgotten.  All  through 
the  Middle  Ages,  however,  the  (me  cemetery  of  S.  Sebastian 
remained  still  an  object  of  reverence  and  subsequently  of 
pilgrimage,  no  doubt  owing  to  a  persistent  tradition  that  the 
bodies  of  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul  had  reposed  in  the  smaller 
crypt  beneath  the  church  for  a  period  of  j^ears.  The  crypt 
and    little   cemetery   beneath   S.    Sebastian,   from    the   district 


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THE    GATAGOMBS    OF   ROME.  269 

in  which  the  church  was  situated,  was  known  generally  as 
"  Coemeterium  ad  Catacumbas." 

Thus  through  the  Middle  Ages,  among  the  shrines  and  many 
objects  of  sacred  interest  which  pilgrims  to  Rome  from  distant 
lands  loved  to  visit,  the  crj-pt  or  cemetery  of  S.  Sebastian 
"  ad  catacumbas "  still  maintained  a  prominent  position. 
Gradually  the  appellation  of  "ad  catacumbas"  came  to  be 
used  for  other  similar  underground  crypts,  not  only  in  Rome 
and  the  neighbourhood,  but  in  other  cities ;  for  instance, 
we  find  the  term  used  at  Naples  as  early  as  the  ninth  century. 
On  the  re-discovery  of  the  great  underground  City  of  the 
Dead  at  Rome,  late  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  popular 
name  of  the  catacombs  was  adopted  for  all  the  subterranean 
cemeteries.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  after  all 
a  curious  misnomer,  and  was  utterly  unknown  in  its  present 
general  signification  in  ancient  times. 

The  extent  of  this  vast  system  of  subterranean  corridors 
and  sepulchral  chambers  has  been  the  subject  of  much  specu- 
lation. Their  most  scientific  explorer  and  historian,  De 
Rossi,  enumerates  as  many  as  forty-three  distinct  ceme- 
teries in  the  suburbs  of  Rome ;  this  list  he  has  largely 
constructed  out  of  ancient  "  itineraries"^  and  other  trustworthy 
records.  Manj'  of  these  cemeteries  he  has  succeeded  in 
identifjdng,  and  some  he  has  partially  investigated,  but  only 
partially,  for  even  in  the  case  of  the  best  kno^\m,  large  portions 
are  still  "earthed  up."  This  "earthing  up"  was  the  work 
of  Christians  during  bitter  persecutions,  probably  mainly 
carried  out  in  the  troublous  periods  of  the  third  and  the 
early  years  of  the  fourth  century.  In  some  cases,  however, 
little  or  nothing  has  been  done  by  way  of  exploration  by 
modern  men  of  science,  the  work  of  excavating  being  difficult, 
dangerous,  and  very  costly.  Thus,  anything  like  an  accurate 
estimate  of  their  extent  is  as  yet  impossible.  Various  cal- 
culations have  been  made  by  experts,  giving  from  five  to 
eight  hundred  miles  as  the  probable  extent  of  the  galleries 
lined  with  the  remains  of  the  dead.  The  number  of  inter- 
ments  is  also   a   matter   of  dispute :    some   scholars   consider 

*  These  are  fully  explained  on  p.  281. 


270  EARLY   GHBISTIANITT  AND   PAGANISM. 

that  as  many  as  six  millions  of  Christians  sleep  their  last 
sleep  on  the  shelves  of  the  dark  corridors  and  in  the  sepulchral 
chambers  leading  out  of  them,  while  others  put  the  number 
so  low  as  two  milKons.  When,  however,  it  is  remembered 
that  in  many  of  the  catacombs  there  are  three  or  four  or 
more  galleries,  one  excavated  beneath  the  other,  communicat- 
ing by  means  of  short  flights  of  steps ;  that  in  each  gallery 
there  are  five  or  six  tiers  of  shelves;  that  on  many  of  the 
shelves  two,  three,  or  even  four  bodies  have  been  laid  one 
alongside  the  other ;  that  in  the  most  thoroughly  explored 
catacomb,  that  of  S.  Callistus,  with  its  adjacent  cemeteries, 
there  are  some  thirty-seven  or  forty  miles  of  galleries;  the 
smaller  numbers  would  scarcely  seem  an  adequate  estimate. 

The  soil  of  the  country,  which  lies  immediately  round 
Rome,  was  peculiarly  adapted  for  these  vast  works  of  excava- 
tion, most  of  the  early  Christian  Roman  Catacombs  being 
hollowed  out  of  a  volcanic  stratum  technically  known  as 
the  "red  tufa  granulare."  This  tufa  was  easily  worked, 
besides  being  of  sufficient  consistency  to  admit  of  excavation 
into  galleries  and  chambers  without  any  danger  of  collapse, 
its  porous  nature  always  allowed  any  water  quickly  to  drain 
off  from  it,  thus  leaving  the  corridors,  where  the  bodies  were 
usually  laid  on  shelves  specially  arranged  for  this  purpose, 
dry  and  fairly  wholesome.  The  shelves  were  dug  out  of  the 
tufa  of  the  side  walls,  and  when  the  dead  had  been  laid  on 
them  the  openings  were  hermetically  closed  Avith  thick  plaster, 
or  more  commonly  with  slabs  of  stone  or  marble,  on  which 
the  name  of  the  inmate  was  sometimes  engraved ;  in  some 
cases  with  a  little  carved  picture  and  a  few  words  expressive 
of  love  and  faith  and  hope.  These  shelves  were  ranged  one 
above  the  other,  and  have  been  compared,  not  inaptly,  to 
the  berths  in  a  ship's  cabin.  Each  shelf  contained  one  or 
more  bodies  according  to  its  depth.  This  was  the  usual 
iirrangement  of  the  corridors.  The  sepulchral  chambers,  of 
which  there  are  a  great  number  leading  out  of  the  corridors, 
vary  much  in  size,  and  usually  contain  one  or  more  tombs 
of  greater  importance. 

Thus  it  was  that   the  followers  of    Christ  in    the    Roman 


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THE    CATACOMBS    OF   ROME.  271 

community  were  enabled  to  bury  their  dead  by  themselves, 
without  the  defilement  of  heathen  rites;  avoiding,  too,  the 
necessity  of  cremation  generally  adopted  by  the  Romans  of 
the  Empire.  Cremation  was  singularly  abhorrent  to  the  early 
Christians,  who  were  deeply  imbued  with  the  feelings  of  the 
Synagogue  out  of  which,  in  early  years,  not  a  few  of  them  had 
come.  To  these  devoted  followers  of  Jesus  such  a  sepulture  as 
that  provided  in  the  catacombs  which  lay  beneath  the  gardens 
of  the  city  suburbs,  was  inexpressibly  dear,  for  it  recalled 
with  a  strange  accuracy  the  loved  memory  of  the  temporary 
resting-place  of  their  Lord.  "  In  the  place  where  He  was 
cruciiied  was  a  garden,  and  in  the  garden  a  new  sepulchre 
.  ,  .  there  laid  they  Jesus." 

As  time  went  on  there  were  probably  but  few  chambers 
or  corridors  of  these  catacombs  which  were  not  hallowed  by 
containing  one  or  more  of  the  bodies  of  martyrs  for  the 
Faith,  more  or  less  distinguished.  The  merciful  laws  of 
Rome  peculiarly  facilitated  this  practice ;  for  the  bodies  of 
those  who  had  suffered  capital  punishment  were,  as  a  rule, 
given  up  to  the  friends  who  might  desire  reverently  to  inter 
their  remains.  Even  the  ashes  of  those  who  had  been  burned 
by  public  sentence  were  allowed  to  be  collected  by  those 
who  loved  the  dead,  for  subsequent  interment.  Very  rarely, 
and  then  only  in  cases  of  treason  against  the  State,  was  this 
last  kindly  office  not  allowed  b}^  the  laws  of  Rome,  ever 
tender  and  respectful  to  the  dead.  It  will  be  remembered 
how  readily  Pilate  gave  up  the  body  of  the  crucified  Lord  to 
His  friends.  This  gracious  and  humane  custom  of  Rome  in 
the  case  of  the  dead  who  had  suffered  the  extreme  penalty 
of  the  law,  explains  the  well  authenticated  presence  of  so 
inany  bodies  of  more  or  less  distinguished  martyrs  in  the 
various  subterranean  cemeteries  around  Rome.  To  cite  a  few 
well-known  instances.  In  the  cemetery  of  S.  Domitilla  we 
find  traces  of  the  sepulture  of  S.  Nereus  and  S.  Achilles; 
in  the  Vatican  crypt,  along  with  other  illustrious  martyred 
dead,  lie   the   remains   of  S.    Peter*;   in   the  closed  catacomb 

*  In  Appendix  B,  at  the  end  of  this  volume,  will  be  ioimd  a  short  account  of 
the  "  Tomb  of  S.  Peter,"  and  also  Drei's  plan  of  the  part  of  the  Vatican  Crypt,  where 


272  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

beneath  the  basilica  of  S.  Paul  outside  the  walls,  a  universal 
tradition  tells  us,  is  the  sepulchre  of  the  martyred  apostle  of 
the  Gentiles ;  in  the  cemetery  of  S.  Callistus  we  find  traces 
of  the  sepulture  of  many  Roman  bishops  of  the  third  century, 
several  of  whom  we  know  were  martyrs ;  in  the  same  great 
cemetery  the  original  tomb  of  the  virgin  martyr,  S.  Cecilia, 
is  now  well  known  ;  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Prsetextatus,  recent 
discoverers  have  found  the  graves  of  S.  Januarius  and  of 
several  other  historic  martyrs.  In  the  cemetery  of  S. 
Agnes  was  the  tomb  of  the  virgin  saint;  in  the  Ostrian 
cemetery  the  tomb  of  S.  Emerentiana,  the  martyr  foster- 
sister  of  S.  Agnes,  has  been  identified  quite  lately.  Very 
many  other  similar  examples  might  be  quoted ;  and  these 
hallowed  graves  are  by  no  means  merely  traditional  sites,  but 
portions  of  tablets,  with  inscriptions  more  or  less  perfect, 
still  remain,  thus  confirming  very  ancient  traditions  which  for 
so  long  a  time  have  designated  these  spots  as  peculiarly  sacred 
The  question  has  been  raised  whether  these  enormous 
cemeteries  of  the  Christian  dead  were  ever  used  by  the  com- 
munities of  Rome  as  places  of  religious  assembly,  or  even  of 
refuge  in  times  when  persecution  was  especially  active.  There 
is  little  doubt  that  all  through  the  second  and  third  centuries 
religious  services,  more  or  less  frequent,  were  held  in  certain 
of  the  larger  sepulchral  chambers  on  special  days,  particularly 
on  the  anniversary  of  the  dead  who  slept  in  the  chambers 
in  question.  It  is  also  certain  that  in  times  of  danger  many 
a  hunted  Christian — probably  whole  congregations — found  a 
temporary  hiding  place  in  the  sombre  labyrinths  of  one  or 
other  of  these  subterranean  burying-places. 

SECTION   II. — HISTORY   OF   THE   CATACOMBS. 

We  can  best  divide  the  eventful  story  of  the  Catacombs  of 
Rome  into  four  periods: — 

The  First  extending  from  circa  a.d.  50  to  circa  a.d.  202. 

the  remains  of  the  great  Apostle  presumably  lie.  Drei  was  clerk  of  the  works  of  S. 
Peter's  in  the  pontificates  of  Paul  V.  and  Urban  VIII. ;  his  plan  was  published  in 
A.i).  1635. 


TEE    G  AT  AG  0MB  S    OF   ROME.  273 

The  Second  extending  from  circa  a.d.  202  to  circa  a.d.  313. 

The  Thh'd  extendmg  from  circa  a.d.  313  to  circa  a.d.  410. 

The  Fom-th  extending  from  circa  a.d.  410  to  circa  a.d.  817. 

After  the  last-mentioned  date,  a.d.  817,  the  catacombs 
became  gradually  forgotten,  and  were  ignored  for  a  long 
period,  extending  over  some  seven  hundred  and  sixty  years, 
when  a  chance  discovery  by  some  labourers  of  a  cemetery 
lying  beneath  a  vineyard  on  the  Via  Salaria  in  a.d.  1578,  in 
the  reign  of  our  Queen  Elizabeth,  brought  before  men's  notice 
once  more  this  wonderful  City  of  the  Dead ;  and  since  that 
date  the  interest  of  scholars  and  explorers  has,  to  some  extent, 
been  aroused,  and  fitful  and  intermittent  exploration  works 
have  been  undertaken  in  what  has  been  popularly,  though 
somewhat  inaccurately,  termed  "  Roma  sotterranea  " — inaccurate 
because  no  crypt  or  catacomb  was  ever  excavated  beneath  the 
city  proper. 

The  First  Period — circa  a.d.  50  to  a.d.  202 — witnessed  the 
devoted  and  ©■enerous  conduct  of  some  of  the  wealthier  brethren, 
who  provided  graves,  and  exercised  what  we  have  termed 
"  the  hospitality  of  the  tomb "  in  the  case  of  their  poorer 
companions  in  one  common  Faith  by  providing  places  of 
interment  in  crypts  and  catacombs,  excavated  in  the  vicinity 
of  their  own  family  burying  places,  beneath  their  gardens  and 
vineyards.  These  crypts,  as  time  went  on  and  the  numbers 
of  the  Christians  kept  increasing,  developed  insensibly;  more 
and  more  corridors  and  sepulchral  chambers  were  perpetually 
being  excavated,  and  when  the  hmits  of  the  property  of  the 
original  donor  of  the  cemetery  were  reached,  passages  and 
chambers  were  dug  on  a  lower  level,  beneath  the  first  level ; 
thus,  four,  five,  and  in  some  instances  six,  storeys  of  these 
corridors  underlie  the  garden  or  vineyard  which  was  originally 
devoted  to  this  generous  and  pious  use.  In  this  way,  a 
cemetery,  during  the  first  hundred  and  seventy  years  which 
followed  the  Ascension  of  the  Master,  would  gradually  grow 
into  that  strange  labyrinth  of  passages  and  chambers  filled 
with  the  dead,  which  we  are  in  the  habit  of  styling  a  catacomb. 
Several  well-known  cemeteries  belong  to  this  first  period.  The 
dates  can  be  determined  Avith  fair  accuracy,  partly  from  the 
s 


274  EARLY   CHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

inscriptions  found  on  some  of  the  slabs  which  seal  the  shelves 
on  which  the  dead  sleep,  partly  from  the  special  style  and 
execution  of  the  decorated  portions. 

Among  the  best-known  catacombs  which  belong  to  this 
early  period  (the  first  and  second  centuries),  foremost  must 
be  reckoned  the  crypt  of  the  Vatican,  where  a  very  ancient 
tradition  tells  us  the  remains  of  S.  Peter  were  laid,  and  close 
to  S.  Peter  a  long  line  of  martyred  bishops  of  Rome  who 
succeeded  him,  reaching  to  Pope  Victor,  who  was  buried  in 
the  Vatican  cemetery  a.d.  202.  The  successors  of  Victor  were 
interred  in  another  place,  of  Avhich  we  shall  presently  speak. 

But  there  are  no  remains,  properly  so-called,  of  this  most 
ancient  Vatican  cemetery,  it  having  been  destroyed  at  an 
early  date,  probably  in  the  fourth  century,  to  make  room  for 
the  foundations  of  the  mighty  basilica  of  S.  Peter. 

The  present  crypt  of  S.  Peter,  however,  with  the  Confes- 
sionary  of  the  great  Apostle,  occupies  a  portion  of  the  site 
of  the  ancient  Vatican  crypt.  But  an  authentic  record  is 
preserved  of  what  was  seen  in  a.d.  1626,  when  the  works  in 
connection  with  the  foundations  of  the  enormous  bronze 
baldachino  which  now  overshadoAvs  the  High  Altar  of 
S.  Peter's  were  being  arranged ;  and  hence  there  is  little 
doubt  that  the  great  Apostle's  remains  are  still  in  the  spot 
assigned  to  them  by  immemorial  tradition. 

Another  most  ancient  crypt  which  a  probably  accurate 
tradition  points  to  as  the  resting-place  of  S.  Paul  has  also 
been  in  great  part  destroyed,  to  make  room  for  the  foundations 
of  the  basilica  of  S.  Paul,  "  outside  the  Avails."  Some  portions 
of  this  ancient  cemetery  still  exist,  but  in  a  ruinous  condition. 
These  portions  are  known  as  the  cemetery  of  S.  Lucina  or 
S.  Commodilla. 

But,  although  it  is  impossible  for  the  present  to  investigate 
closely  these  hallowed  crypts  of  the  Vatican  and  S.  Paul  fuori 
tnuros,  we  have  in  perfect  condition  still  other  cemeteries  of 
well-nigh  an  equal  antiquity.  The  most  notorious  of  these 
are,  bordering  on  the  Appian  Way,  the  catacomb  of  S.  Domitilla, 
the  kinswoman,  as  some  maintain,  of  Vespasian,  with  its 
beautiful   painted   decorations,   equal   in  artistic   excellence   to 


THE    CATACOMBS    OF   ROME.  275 

many  of  the  Pompeian  remains;  the  catacomb  of  S.  Prsetextatus, 
with  its  touching  memories  of  various  martyrs  buried  there  as 
early  as  a.d.  162 ;  the  catacomb  of  S.  Lucina,  joined  by  under- 
ground corridors  with  the  great  cemetery  known  as  that  of 
S.  CaUistus.  On  another  side  of  the  city,  on  the  Salarian  Way, 
lies  the  once  famous  cemetery  now  generally  known  as  the  Ostrian 
Catacomb,  but  in  early  times  usually  styled  the  "  cemetery  of 
the  Fountain  of  Peter,"  where  an  ancient  tradition  relates 
that  S.  Peter  used  to  baptise  and  to  relate  his  memories  of  the 
Saviour — memories  now  enshrined  in  the  Gospel  of  S.  Mark. 

To  this  little  list  of  very  ancient  cemeteries  must  be  added 
the  catacomb  of  S.  Priscilla,  on  the  New  Salarian  Way,  pos- 
sessing traditions  which  connect  it  with  the  Apostles  in  the 
middle  of  the  first  century.  It  was  said  to  have  been  excavated 
in  a  garden  belonging  to  Pudens,  the  disciple  of  S.  Paul. ,  The 
character  of  certain  decorations,  still  visible  in  this  most  ancient 
catacomb,  fully  bears  out  the  tradition  of  its  being,  in  part  at 
least,  contemporary  with  the  Apostles. 

The  Second  Period  of  the  story  of  the  catacombs  may  be 
reckoned  as  extending  from  circa  a.d.  202  to  a.d.  313,  the 
date  when  the  Peace  of  the  Church  was  sealed  by  the  famous 
edict  of  the  Emperor  Constantine.  It  was  in  this  second 
period  that  the  catacombs  reached  their  full  development. 
We  have  seen  that  in  this  third  century  the  Christians 
enjoyed  long  seasons  of  comparative  stilhiess  after  the  time 
of  Severus.  Then  it  was  that  the  Church — w^e  are  speaking 
especially  of  the  Roman  Christian  community — not  only  very 
largely  multiplied  its  numbers,  but  elaborately  organised  itself. 
In  this  work  of  organisation,  the  construction  and  management 
of  the  cemeteries  where  the  Christian  dead  were  reverently 
laid  to  rest,  and  which  undoubtedly  were  used,  even  in  times 
of  "quietness,"  for  many  solemn  gatherings,  occupied  a 
prominent  place. 

At  the  close  of  the  second  century  it  is  probable  that 
the  Church  in  Rome  numbered  some  50,000  souls.  It  is 
evident  that  with  such  numbers  dwelling  in  the  Imperial 
city — numbers,  too,  ever  increasing — the  primitive  arrange- 
ments  for   the  management  of  the  cemeteries,   so  precious  in 


276  EARLY   GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  eyes  of  the  early  Church,  would  have  to  be  recast.  So 
we  find  in  the  time  of  Pope  Zephyrinus,  about  the  year  202, 
that  Callistus,  the  archdeacon  who  subsequently  succeeded 
Zephyrinus  to  the  see  of  Rome,  was  specially  entrusted  with 
the  government  of  the  clergy,  and  was  set  over  "  the  cemietery." 
The  words  are  from  Hippolytus,  one  of  the  most  learned 
Christian  writers  of  that  age.  From  this  time  (a.d.  202) 
onward  the  mighty  and  ever  growing  subterranean  necropolis 
evidently  passed  out  of  the  private  hands  of  the  original 
donors  and  their  descendants,  and  became  the  property  of 
the  Church,  which  henceforward  undertook  its  development, 
management,  and  supervision.  CalHstus  greatly  enlarged,  if 
he  did  not  construct,  the  important  cemetery  known  by  his 
name,  arranging  in  it  a  special  sepulchral  chamber  for  the 
bishops  of  Rome,  in  which,  from  this  date  onward  until 
the  Peace  of  the  Church  some  111  years  later,  most  of  the 
Roman  Pontiffs  were  interred.  The  discovery  and  identifi- 
cation of  this  crypt  or  sepulchral  chamber  of  the  third-century 
popes  has  been  one  of  the  most  interesting  "  finds "  of  that 
great  scholar  in  the  catacomb  lore,  De  Rossi. 

During  the  years  of  comparative  "  stillness "  in  the  first 
half  of  the  third  century  the  cemeteries  at  Rome  were 
wonderfully  developed.  In  many  of  them  elaborate  works 
or  ornamentation  were  carried  out ;  oratories,  memorial 
"  cella3,"  dAvellings  for  the  Fossores  and  other  officials  of 
the  Church,  were  built  above  ground.  No  attempts  at  con- 
cealment or  secrecy  were  made.  But,  as  the  century  wore 
on,  darker  days  succeeded;  the  persecutions  revived  and 
even  grew  in  intensity  as  time  advanced.  The  effect  of 
the  troublous  times  on  the  works  connected  with  the  great 
underground  cemeteries  of  Rome  was  very  marked.  The 
regular  and  elaborate  plan  of  the  ever-growing  corridors  and 
galleries  was  changed.  A  curious  labyrinth  of  passages 
succeeded  to  the  well  arranged  system  of  straight  corridors 
with  their  many  highly  decorated  chambers  often  arranged 
for  meetings  and  special  worship ;  secret  approaches  were 
contrived;  hidden  stairs  were  constructed.  Many  of  the 
cemeteries  were  in  part  "  earthed  uj) "  to  prevent  desecration. 


TEE    CATACOMBS    OF  ROME.  277 

The  staircases  leading  to  and  from  the  many  corridors  were 
in  many  instances  destroyed.  The  buildings  which  in  quieter 
times  had  been  erected  at  or  hard  by  the  entrances  to  the 
cemeteries  were  abandoned  and  often  pulled  down.  The 
years  which  preceded  the  final  Peace  of  the  Church  appear 
to  have  been  especially  a  time  of  havoc  and  destruction. 
Miles  upon  miles  of  corridors  and  sepulchral  chambers  were 
closed  up  and  filled  with  earth  and  debris,  the  approaches 
to  them  being  concealed  and  destroyed,  and  no  human  eye 
has  looked  upon  them  since  that  terrible  time.  And  in  our 
days  the  pilgrim  to  the  Eternal  City,  who  is  curious  to 
trace  out  the  work  of  the  early  Christian  communities  of 
Rome,  as  he  wanders  through  these  strange  streets  of  the 
dead,  which  are  now  partially  opened,  is  constantly  stopped 
in  this  or  that  corridor  by  vast  piles  of  earth  and  rubbish 
which  have  never  been  cleared  away.  A  work  of  complete 
re-excavation,  intensely  interesting  and  valuable  to  the  archae- 
ologist and  historian,  would  be  enormously  costly  and,  in 
many  cases,  not  a  little  dangerous,  and  would  require  extreme 
caution.  A  little  is  being  done  in  this  direction  it  is  true, 
but  progress  here  is  slow. 

The  next,  the  Third  Period  in  the  story  of  the  catacombs, 
lasted  from  a.d.  313,  the  date  of  the  final  Peace  of  the  Church, 
until  A.D.  410,^  the  year  of  the  raid  of  Alaric  the  Visigoth, 
when  Rome  was  sacked. 

After  A.D.  313  the  position  of  Christianity  in  the  Roman 
world  was  completely  changed.  There  was  no  longer  any 
necessity  for  the  catacombs.  Privacy,  complete  separateness, 
comparative  secrecy  were  no  longer  requisite  for  interment 
of  the  Christian  dead.  All  rites,  whether  for  the  living  or 
the  dead,  after  a.d.  313,  might  be  freely  performed  in  the 
light  of  day.  Paganism  was  vanquished,  and  in  all  its 
varied  forms  was  a  fast  dying  religion.  The  Roman  world, 
outwardly  at  least,  was  largely  Christian,  from  the  Emperor 
and    his  court  downward   through  all   the   grades   of  society. 

*  Although  this  period  lies  outside  the  area  of  this  work,  a  few  words 
on  the  subsequent  history  of  these  wonderful  cemeteries  Js  necessary  to  com- 
plete GUI-  sketch. 


'^73  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

After  the  date  of  the  Peace  of  the  Church,  a.d.  313,  we  only 
find  records  of  four  or  five  fresh  subterranean  cemeteries 
being  excavated,  and  these  of  small  size  and  of  httle  im- 
portance. As  the  fourth  century  advanced,  the  number  of 
interments  in  any  of  the  catacombs  grew  fewer  and  fewer, 
and  before  the  century  closed  had  virtually  ceased.  Many 
basilicas  or  churches  of  various  sizes  were  erected  over  the 
ancient  cemeteries,  and  the  dead  were  usually  laid  in  open 
areas  around  these  sacred  buildings. 

During  this  century,  the  fourth,  a  deep  reverence  began  to 
grow  up  in  men's  minds  for  the  buried  cemeteries  of  the 
past.  It  was  in  these  dark  corridors  and  lightless  chambers 
that  their  Christian  forefathers  had  been  laid  to  sleep,  the 
brave  pioneers  of  the  Faith,  men  who  had  confessed  their  behef 
in  Christ  under  circumstances  of  extraordinaiy  difficulty  and 
often  of  extreme  danger.  There,  too,  slept  not  a  few  of  the 
noble  company  of  martyrs,  men  and  women,  who  had  posi- 
tively laid  down  their  lives  for  the  Faith.  Those  catacombs 
which,  in  one  or  other  of  their  sepulchral  chambers,  held 
the  graves  of  the  more  conspicuous  of  these  confessors,  were 
the  especial  objects  of  reverence  among  the  Christians  of  the 
new  age  of  "Peace."  This  not  unnatural  feeling  of  tender 
homage  was  voiced  by  Pope  Damasus,  who  ruled  the  Church 
of  Rome  from  a.d.  366  to  a.d.  384.  Damasus  will  ever  be 
remembered  in  the  annals  of  the  Church  for  his  countless 
works  of  skilful  and  reverent  restoration  of  portions  of  the 
wrecked  and  desecrated  catacombs  which  had  suffered  so 
severely  in  the  later  persecutions.  Many  were  the  ruined 
tombs  of  the  most  conspicuous  saints  and  martyrs  restored 
by  him.  To  this  day  fragments  of  the  beautifully  engraved 
slabs,  the  work  of  his  chief  artist,  Philocalus,  are  constantly 
coming  to  light  and  assisting  scholars  hke  De  Rossi  to  identify 
especially  sacred  spots  in  these,  too  often  ruined,  cemeteries. 
Pope  Damasus  not  only  restored  and  put  in  order  many  of 
the  shrines  and  sepulchral  chambers,  but  he  rebuilt  the 
destroyed  staircases  in  many  places  and  rendered  it  possible 
for  the  pilgrims  from  far  distant  countries  in  his  own  day 
and   for   several  generations   following  to   visit    spots    famous 


TEE    CATACOMBS    OF   ROME.  279 

for   deeds   of  endurance  and  patient   bravery  on   the   part  of 
known  and  unknown  martyrs. 

An  enormous  extent,  however,  of  "  earthed-up "  and  other- 
wise wrecked  corridors  and  chambers  remained  untouched 
by  Pope  Damasus,  and  indeed  have  never  been  touched  by 
mortal  hand  since  the  troubled  days  of  persecution. 

The  Fourth  Period  in  the  story  we  reckon  from  a.d.  410, 
the  date  of  the  raid  of  the  Visigoth  Alaric.  This  was  the 
first  barbarian  occupation  of  the  Imperial  City,  and  this 
fourth  period  covers  some  four  hundred  years,  closing 
about  A.D.  817,  when,  owing  to  events  which  we  shall  very 
briefly  sketch,  public  interest  in  the  catacombs  altogether 
passed  away. 

One  striking  result  of  Pope  Damasus'  loving  work  of 
restoration  in  the  more  famous  spots  in  the  great  underground 
cemeteries  was  to  bring  prominently  before  the  eyes  of  the 
various  strangers  and  pilgrims,  many  from  distant  countries, 
to  the  immemorial  city,  the  memory  of  the  brave  Confessors 
of  the  Faith  which  the  world  of  Rome  now  generally  acloiow- 
ledged.  The  restored  shrines  of  the  catacombs  in  fact  became 
the  principal  objects  of  pilgrimage;  guides  and  itineraries  for 
visiting  them  were  composed.  Fragments  of  some  of  these  have 
come  down  the  stream  of  time  to  us,  and  have  proved  of 
the  greatest  service  to  De  Rossi  and  other  scholars  of  our 
day. 

The  hallowed  sites,  however,  were  grievously  interfered 
with,  even  recklessly  injured,  and  in  many  cases  rifled  of 
their  contents,  in  the  course  of  the  successive  raids  and 
invasions  to  which  Rome  and  Italy  were  subjected  by  barbarian 
enemies.  Amonof  the  more  destructive  of  these  we  would 
specify  the  raids  of  Alaric  the  Visigoth  in  a.d.  410 ;  that  of 
Vitiges,  another  Gothic  chieftain,  in  a.d.  537,  who  apparently 
singled  out  the  catacombs  as  especially  the  object  of  his 
passion  for  destruction ;  and  lastly  that  of  Astolphus  the 
Lombard  in  a.d.  756. 

It  was,  of  course,  the  hope  of  coming  upon  gold  and 
gems  which  stimulated  the  various  hordes  of  barbarian  raiders 
to  ransack  the  catacombs,  knowing,  as  they  did,  how  precious 


280  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND   PAGANISM. 

these  ancient  shrines  were  in  the  eyes  of  the  Christians. 
But,  strangel}^  enough,  in  some  instances,  and  in  the  case  ot 
the  Lombard  Astolphus,  the  idea  of  procuring  the  sacred 
rehcs  of  the  remains  of  the  dead,  either  for  themselves  or 
for  the  more  sordid  purpose  of  selHng  them,  seems  to  have 
been  the  motive. 

Some  of  the  bishops  of  Rome,  too,  unconsciously  of  course, 
in  attempting  to  repair  the  mischief  done  by  barbarian 
spoilers,  irreparably  injured  the  old  paintings  and  sculptured 
work  by  overlaying  them  with  their  new  designs  and  orna- 
mentations ;  and  in  the  ninth  century  these  prelates  com- 
pleted the  work  of  havoc  and  spoliation  by  translating  a  vast 
number  of  remains  from  those  portions  of  the  catacombs 
which  were  still  open,  to  various  churches  in  Rome.  They 
pleaded  as  the  excuse  for  this  strange  act  of  sacrilege  the 
greater  safety  of  the  churches  in  times  of  confusion  and 
pillage.  There  is,  for  instance,  an  inscription  in  the  ancient 
church  of  S.  Prassede  which  tells  how,  in  a.d.  817,  two 
thousand  three  hundred  bodies  were  removed  to  this  church 
from  the  catacombs  by  Pope  Paschal  I.  Vast  numbers  of 
bodies  were  removed  at  this  period  from  their  original  resting- 
places  in  the  ancient  subterranean  cemeteries  to  the  churches 
of  S.  Silvestro,  S.  Martino,  and  the  Santi  Quattro  Coronati. 
Among  these  stransre  translations  of  remains  of  the  dead  from 
the  catacombs  we  read  of  Uventy  wagon  loads  of  bones 
being  removed  to  the  Pantheon.  These  wholesale  removals, 
or  translations,  on  the  part  of  the  bishops  of  Rome;  the 
destructive  work  of  ransacking  and  pillaging  repeated  by 
successive  hordes  of  raiding  barbarians,  Goth,  Vandal, 
and  Lombard;  are  more  than  sufficient  to  account  for  the 
innumerable  empty  and  ruined  graves  which,  tier  upon  tier, 
line  the  corridors  and  sepulchral  chambers  on  all  sides  in 
the  various  catacombs  into  which  the  modern  pilgrim  and 
student  is  able  now  to  penetrate.  There  still  remains,  however, 
an  enormous  burying  ground,  lying  beneath  the  suburbs  of 
the  immemorial  city,  yet  covered  up,  securety  protected  by 
masses  of  earth  and  debris. 

The    catacombs   available   for   the   visits   of  stranofers    and 


THE    CATACOMBS    OF   BOME.  281 

pilgrims  being  thus,  before  the  years  of  the  ninth  century- 
had  run  their  course,  stripped  and  desolate,  lost  in  the  eyes 
of  the  many  visitors  to  the  Eternal  City  their  pecuHar  charm. 
The  precious  relics  of  saints  and  martyrs,  even  the  remains  of 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  Christian  dead,  had  largely  disap- 
peared. So  it  came  to  pass  that,  the  special  interest  being 
gone,  the  very  existence  of  the  catacombs  was  gradually  for- 
gotten. Besides,  for  some  two  hundred  years  mankind, 
harassed  by  perpetual  wars,  by  anarchy  and  confusion,  was 
too  wretched  to  devote  much  time  to  pilgrimages.  And, 
when  in  quieter  times  the  old  fervour  and  zeal  for  visiting 
sacred  shrines  and  holy  places  awoke  again,  the  catacombs  of 
Rome,  once  so  cherished  and  revered,  had  ceased  to  be 
even  '=a  memor}^"  A  dense  cloud  settled  down  upon  them 
— a  cloud  which  never  lifted  for  some  seven  hundred  years. 

The  chance  discovery  of  some  labourers  digging  in  a  vine- 
yard in  the  Via  Salaria,  in  the  year  1578,  to  which  we  have 
already  alluded,  brought  to  light  one  of  the  ancient  cemeteries, 
with  its  curious  paintings,  its  strange  sculptures,  its  pathetic 
inscriptions,  its  seemingly  endless  corridors,  lined  with  (mostly) 
empty  graves.  The  world  of  Rome  then  came  to  know  that 
a  marvellous  unexplored  City  of  the  Dead  lay  beneath  its 
feet ;  old  records  were  investigated,  ancient  itineraries'^  and 
pilgrim  guides  were  searched  into,  and  the  forgotten  story  of 
the  past  once  more  was  read  and  studied. 

*  Of  these  "  Itineraries  "  or  local  guide  books  to  the  Sanctuaries  of  the  City 
of  Eome — where  the  catacombs  as  they  existed  in  the  seventh  century  are  described — 
we  possess  several ;  perhaps  the  oldest  is  a  MS.  bound  up  accidentally  with  the 
works  of  Alcuia,  Charlemagne's  iMinister  of  Education ;  internal  evidence  shows 
that  this  "Itinerary"  was  written  on  the  spot,  cirm  a.d.  625-638.  This  guide 
hook  was  completed  Iwfore  the  wholesale  translations  of  the  bodies  by  certain  of 
the  Popes  had  begun. 

Another  "  Itinerary  "  is  contained  ia  the  works  of  William  of  Malmesbury, 
who  wrote  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  or  beginning  of  the  twelfth.  But  the 
"  Itinerary  "  is  plainly  copied  from  a  document  written  some  four  or  five  centuries 
earlier. 

A  MS.  at  Eiosiedeln  (Switzerland),  published  by  Mabillon  in  1 685,  contains 
another  of  these  curious  ancient  "  guide-books  "  to  Rome.  The  date  is  circa  a.d.  750. 

These  "  Itineraries,"  or  guide-books  to  the  Rome  of  the  seventh  and  eighth 
centuries,  have  been  of  the  greatest  assistance  to  De  Rossi  and  his  fellow-scholars  in 
their  exhaustive  work  of  exploration  and  identification  of  the  catacombs. 


282  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  "find"  of  a.d.  1578  and 
what  sprang  from  it;  and.  thus  a  new  chapter  bearing  on  the 
story  of  the  early  Church,  when  Christianity  was  a  for- 
bidden religion,  was  added  to  the  somewhat  scanty  material 
out  of  which  the  tapestry  of  such  a  history  as  this  is  woven. 
It  is  a  chapter  written  on  marble  and  on  stone — its  genuine- 
ness no  lynx-eyed  critic  will  ever  dare  to  question. 


SECTION   III. — ART   OF   THE   CATACOMBS. 

The  present  state  of  grim  desolation  which  the  accessible 
portions  of  the  catacombs  exhibit,  by  no  means  gives  an 
accurate  idea  of  their  appearance  when  they  were  in  daily 
use. 

The  interminable  corridors  were  then  neatly  finished  and, 
in  some  cases,  adorned  with  elaborate  ornamentation.  The 
graves  with  their  many  tiers,  which  now  so  often  are  yawn- 
ing and  ghastly  apertures — some  quite  empty,  some  still  con- 
taining a  few  mouldering  bones — were  then  all  hermetically 
sealed.  In  many  cases,  though  evidently  not  in  aU,  the 
covering  slabs  were  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the  tenants, 
and  often  in  addition  with  a  few  pathetic  words,  expressive 
of  Faith,  Hope,  and  Love ;  some,  too,  were  adorned  with 
rough  though  strildng  emblems  of  the  Faith,  such  as  the 
monogram  of  Christ  and  the  palm  branch.  Leading  out  of 
these  miles  and  miles  of  grave-lined  corridors  are  a  vast 
number  of  compartments  of  various  sizes,  the  mortuary  chambers 
evidently  of  the  more  wealthy  and  important  members 
of  the  Christian  congregations  of  Rome.  These  were  often 
more  or  less  richly  decorated.  The  roofs  are  often  painted; 
the  sepulchres  are  adorned  with  both  paintings  and  carved 
work  in  marble  and  stone.  The  marble  work  has  well-nigh 
all  disappeared ;  but  the  paintings  on  the  tombs,  the  walls, 
and  the  roofs  of  the  chambers,  in  many  cases  remain,  though 
sadly  disfigured  and  faded ;  and  _  these  symbolic  ornaments 
can  still,  in  many  instances,  be  deciphered  by  experts  and 
scholars.       These    dim,  blurred    paintings,    these    remains    of 


TEE    CATACOMBS    OF  ROME.  283 

inscriptions,  enormously  enhance  the  importance  of  the 
vast  cemeteries  as  a  piece  of  history,  and  as  a  record  of  the 
theological  belief  of  the  Roman  Christians  during  the  two  and 
a  half  centuries  which  immediately  followed  the  Ascension  of 
the  Blessed  Redeemer.  For  these  painted  and  carved  records 
date  in  some  instances  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles ;  they 
carry  on  the  story  of  the  belief  of  the  Christian  community 
of  Rome  all  through  the  second  and  third  and  the  early  years 
of  the  fourth  centuries  of  our  era. 

It  is  intensely  interesting.  It  is  even  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  us  to  be  enabled  thus  to  catch  sight  of  the 
Christian  tone  of  mind,  of  Christian  thoughts,  hopes  and  ex- 
pectations during  the  long  drawn  out  period  of  danger  and 
often  of  bitter  persecution — a  period  which  can  never  be 
repeated.  No  written  records,  however  well  attested,  of  this 
momentous  time  can  be  compared  with  these,  for  no 
redactor  of  a  later  age  has  touched  them  up,  corrected  them, 
read  into  them  the  thoughts  of  a  later  generation.  The  men 
of  the  first,  second,  and  thu'd  centuries  painted  their  thoughts 
on  the  ceilings  and  Avails  of  these  sacred  chambers  of  then- 
dead,  and  carved  them  on  the  marble  and  plaster  slabs  that 
covered  up  the  graves.  Their  work  remains  to  this  day, 
though  sadly  disfigured;  and  we  can  there  still  read  the 
simple,  true  story  of  their  belief,  their  faith,  their  sublime 
hope. 

When  any  restorer,  such  as  Damasus  in  the  fourth,  and 
the  Popes  of  the  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  centuries,  has 
meddled  with  and  added  fresh  enrichment  to  the  old  works, 
the  hand  of  the  "restorer "  is  at  once  plainly  visible.  The 
style  and  execution  directly  betray  the  period ;  no  mistake 
is  possible. 

We  will  give  a  few  of  the  leading  features  of  the  story  of 
the  paintings  and  inscriptions  which  unmistakably  belong  to 
the  artists  of  the  first  three  centuries.  First  and  most 
prominent  in  all  the  paintmgs,  in  the  inscriptions  and  carvings, 
is  the  thought  of  Death.  But  it  is  no  sombre  idea  of  death — 
it  is  death  as  a  friend.  Agam  and  again  the  early  Christian 
artist  pictures  the  spirit  of  the  Christian  when  released  from 


284  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

the  body  finding  itself  in  a  garden  ^' — the  garden  of  the 
Blessed.  In  these  gloomy,  usually  lightless  crypts,  it  seems 
a  strange  but  exquisite  conception,  this  constant  reproduction 
of  the  garden  imagery.  In  the  cemetery  of  Domitilla,  one  of 
the  earliest  of  the  Christian  burying  places,  we  find  a  beautiful 
representation  of  a  vine  mingled  with  flowers  twining  over 
the  walls  and  ceilings. 

In  these  most  ancient  galleries  of  Christian  art  we  find  a 
considerable  variety  of  subjects  chosen  by  the  artist  or  sculptor. 
But  there  are  two  figures  which  appear  again  and  again.  They 
are  to  be  met  with  in  the  frescoes  which  adorn  the  most 
ancient  sepulchres — sepulchres  which  must  date  from  Apostolic 
times ;  for  instance,  amidst  the  charming  confusion  of  vines 
and  flowers  of  the  Domitilla  and  Lucina  cemeteries  of  the 
first  century.  They  are  reproduced,  too,  very  frequently  in 
the  rougher  and  less  artistic  paintings  of  the  catacombs  of 
the  third  century.  These  are  the  familiar  figures  loiown 
as  the  "Orante"  and  the  "Good  Shepherd."  The  name 
usually  given  to  the  first  of  these  tells  its  story:  it  is  the 
"praying  one."  In  almost  all  cases  the  figure  is  in  the  same 
attitude;  the  gaze  directed  upwards,  the  arms  outstretched  as 
though  in  prayer.  The  "  Orante  "  is  evidently  asking  God  for 
something,  or  else  thanking  God  for  some  mercy  already 
received.  In  the  vast  majority  of  cases  the  "Orante"  is  drawn 
as  a  female  figure,  but  there  are  exceptions  when  the  "  praying 
one "  is  pictured  as  a  man.  The  attitude  of  the  figure  is 
always  the  same,  only  the  dress  is  varied,  AVhat  now  does 
this  favourite  figure  represent  ?  The  Blessed  A^irgin  has  been 
often  pressed  upon  the  student  as  its  subject,  but  absolutely 
without  any  solid  basis  for  the  hypothesis.  The  Church  has 
been   suggested,   but   such  a  vague   and   impersonal  reference 

*  In  Rome  the  usual  expression  for  the  City  of  the  Dead  was  "  Coemeterium  " 
(cemetery),  a  sleeping  place.  In  North  Africa  it  was  termed  "area."  This  word 
was  also  used  in  some  parts  of  Italy.  In  many  localities,  though,  the  favourite 
name  was  "Hortus,"  a  garden.  This  word  we  find  used  at  Milan,  for  instance,  and 
at  Salona  and  other  places.  We  rememher  the  word  in  the  Gospel  of  S.  John  : 
"Now  in  the  place  where  He  was  crucified  was  a  garden,  and  in  the  garden  a 
new  tomb."  No  doubt  the  favourite  appellation  of  "garden,"  applied  to  the 
resting-place  of  the  dead,  is  a  touching  memory  of  S.  John's  words. 


THE    CATACOMBS    OF   ROME.  285 

would  convey  little  to  tlie  devout  mourner  or  worshipper  of 
the  first  three  centuries.  Better  far,  and  in  its  way  more 
probable  and  suggestive,  is  the  theory  which  finds  in  this  well- 
known  figure  a  symbolical  representation  of  the  soul  of  the 
dead  one  lying  in  the  rock-  tomb  within,  praying  for  Divine 
help  and  refreshment  in  the  new  and  changed  condition  of 
existence  after  death,  or  else,  possibly,  interceding  as  a  blessed 
and  pardoned  spirit  for  those  still  on  earth.  For  we  find 
among  the  catacomb  inscriptions  many  entreaties  for  such 
prayers  addressed  to  the  soul  of  the  departed  by  those  left 
behind  still  to  struggle  and  to  toil  on  earth  ;  such  as,  "  Live 
in  peace  and  pray  for  us  " ;  "  May  your  soul  be  happy  in  God  ; 
pray  for  your  sister."  The  "  Orante "  is  pictured  in  various 
combinations — now  alone,  now  in  the  company  of  the  Good 
Shepherd. 

The  "  Orante "  figure  as  the  symbol  of  the  soul  of  the 
departed,  surviving  the  art  of  the  very  early  ages,  reappears 
occasionally  in  mediaeval  times,  but  in  a  somewhat  altered 
form — as  a  small  and  delicate  figure  emerging  from  the  corpse. 
A  well-known  representation  of  the  death  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  for  instance,  shows  our  Lord  standing  close  by  the 
form  of  the  dead  Mother,  and  holding  in  His  arms,  as  one 
would  a  little  child,  her  soul,  robed  and  crowned  under  the 
form  of  a  tiny  graceful  figure.  This  was  a  not  uncommon 
subject  for  sculpture  in  wood  and  stone  in  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries. 

The  other  figure  which  we  find  so  often  repeated  in  the 
catacombs  is  the  gracious  form  of  our  Lord,  represented  as 
the  "  Good  Shepherd."  This  may  be  considered  as  the 
favourite  picture  in  the  Roman  City  of  the  Dead.  Innumer- 
able examples  occur  on  the  ceilings  of  the  numerous 
sepulchred  chambers  leading  out  of  the  corridors,  on  the 
slabs  of  marble,  stone,  and  plaster  which  close  up  the  graves, 
or  as  forming  the  centre  of  the  decorations  which  encircle 
the  more  important  tombs. 

It  belongs,  this  figure  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  to  no  one 
period,  to  no  special  subterranean  cemetery,  but  it  is  found 
again  and  again  on  the  tombs  of  all  catacombs  ahke  of  the 


288  EARLY    GHSISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

first  century  and  of  the  third.  The  beautiful  and  touching 
figure  now  appears  as  the  watchful  and  loving  Shepherd 
tenderly  caring  for  His  sheep ;  now  is  drawn  or  carved 
bearing  a  sheep  wounded  or  wearied  on  His  shoulders,  not 
unfrequently  even  with  a  goat  in  His  arms — a  particular 
reminder  that  "  the  lost,"  as  men  would  too  often  style  their 
brothers  and  sisters,  are  still  the  object  of  their  Master's 
love  and  pity.  The  last  is  a  strangely  winning  feature  of 
the  catacomb  teaching. 

Included  in  what  may  be  described  as  the  Pastoral  group 
of  sepulchral  figures,  a  group  we  find  so  often  repeated  in 
one  form  or  other,  are  sheep  and  lambs,  now  feeding  close 
to,  now  simply  gazing  at,  the  Good  Shepherd ;  some  seemingly 
careless,  more,  however,  attentive  to  the  voice  and  gestures 
of  the  Shepherd.  The  milk-pail  found  in  certain  of  these 
pastoral  pictures,  sometimes  standing  between  the  lambs, 
sometimes  borne  by  them,  has  been,  with  great  probability, 
interpreted  as  a  Eucharistic  symbol  of  the  heavenly  food 
provided  by  the  Shepherd. 

On  the  slabs  of  stone  or  marble  or  cement  which  close 
the  graves,  where  no  space  exists  as  in  the  larger  tombs 
for  the  figures  of  the  Shepherd  or  the  sheep,  or  on  the 
decorated  ceilings  of  the  sepulchral  chambers  where  the 
more  important  graves  are  found,  is  often  engraved  a  little 
palm  branch,  symbol  of  the  victory  over  the  grave ;  often 
also  a  dove  or  a  pair  of  doves  takes  the  place  of  the  "  Orante," 
as  the  symbol  of  the  soul  freed  from  the  body.  Other 
symbols  of  the  Faith  are  graven  on  many  of  the  slabs,  such 
as  a  ship  at  anchor,  and  especially  a  Fish  in  various  forms, 
this  last  being  a  mystic  representation  of  the  Saviour,  of 
whose  titles  the  initials  are  the  Greek  letters*  which  spell 
the  word  lx6vi>  (fish).  These  are  some  of  the  more  striking 
and  favourite  subjects.  The  catalogue  could,  however,  be 
greatly  enlarged. 

The  inscriptions  carved  on  the  tombs  claim  a  few  words 
even  in  so  brief  a  study  ot  this  important   but  little   known 

*  Jesus  Christ  God  the  Son  Saviour. 
Irjaovs  Xpicrrhs  Qshs  "Vlhs   Swttj/). 


TEE    CATACOMBS    OF   ROME.  287 

chapter  of  early  Christian  history.  Besides  the  name  of  the 
departed  on  many  of  the  slabs  covering  the  graves,  we  find 
innumerable  simple  expressions  of  love  and  perfect  faith  and 
confidence  as  to  the  state  of  peace  and  blissful  rest  enjoyed 
by  the  Christian  dead,  such  as  "  She  sleeps "  ;  "  Aurelia,  our 
very  sweet  daughter,  refresh  thyself  among  the  holy  spirits " ; 
"  In  peace  "  ;  "  Everlasting  rest  of  happiness "  ;  "  Breaking 
the  bonds  of  the  body,  he  rejoices  among  the  stars";  "Rest- 
ing well  in  peace  " ;  "  Called  away  by  angels  "  ;  "  Thou  restest 
in  peace,  incomparable  wife "  ;  "  He  went  to  God " ;  "  Be 
refreshed  with  the  souls  of  the  righteous " ;  "  Thou  dost 
repose  for  ever  from  care  " ;  "  Pretiosa  went  to  her  rest,  a 
handmaid  of  God  and  Christ " ;  "  He  sleeps  but  lives " ; 
"  To  the  most  sweet  and  innocent  Julia ;  Her  mother  hoping"  ; 
"  The  sleeping  place  of  Aurelia  Martina " ;  "  She  departed, 
desiring  to  ascend  to  the  Eternal  Light  of  Heaven " ;  "  Here 
sleeps  in  the  sleep  of  peace  the  sweet  and  innocent  Severianus, 
whose  spirit  is  received  into  the  light  of  the  Lord  " ;  "  Refrain 
from  tears,  my  sweet  daughter  and  husband ;  believe  that 
it  is  forbidden  to  weep  for  one  who  lives  in  God."  These 
are  just  a  few  of  the  inscriptions  gathered  almost  haphazard ; 
but  they  seem  to  show  how  deep  was  the  spirit  of  calm  joy 
breathed  by  these  Christians  of  Rome  in  the  early  days ; 
they  indicate  how  general  was  their  intense  Faith,  their 
serene  hope.  Death  was,  indeed,  welcomed  in  these  Christian 
communities  as  a  friend. 

These  men  and  women,  when  they  carved  their  brief 
messages  of  hope  and  trust  upon  the  graves  of  their  loved 
dead,  never  dreamed  of  handing  on  to  coming  generations 
any  special  teaching  respecting  dogma.  The  voices  of  the 
serious  disputes  which  arose  after  the  date  of  the  Peace  of 
the  Church  (a.d.  313)  were  not  audible  here  where  the 
Christians  of  the  first  ages  so  often  wept  and  jDrayed.  But 
from  the  simple  catacomb  epitaphs  we  gather  how  firmly 
they  held  to  the  great  truth  of  the  Godhead  of  the  Redeemer, 
a  truth  for  which,  as  we  have  seen  from  the  proces  verhaux 
of  the  martyrdoms  already  quoted  in  this  history,  they  gladly 
died.      We   come  often   upon   expressions   such   as :    "  In   the 


2SS  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Lord  God  Christ "  ;  "  Sacred  to  the  great  God  Christ  "  ;  such 
an  epitaph  as  :  "  Mayest  thou  live  in  the  Holy  Spirit,"  tells 
us  that  the  Roman  Christians  taught,  too,  the  belief  in  the 
Third  Person  of  the  Blessed  Trinity. 

On  the  whole,  we  gather  from  studies  in  the  catacombs 
that  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  disciples  of  the  Lord  during 
those  first  three  centuries  were  so  aflame  with  love  for  the 
Lord  Jesus,  so  filled  with  His  engrossing  personality,  that 
there  Avas  little  place  for  anyone  or  anything  which  did  not 
bear  directly  upon  His  Person  and  His  redemptive  work. 
Hence  the  comparative  rarity  of  any  pictured  representations 
of  the  blessed  Virgin*  and  the  disciples  of  the  Lord.  With 
these  early  members  of  the  Church  of  Rome  Christ  was  all 
in  all.  The  circumstances  of  their  life,  their  precarious 
tenure  of  that  life,  the  frequent  bitter  persecutions,  the  fixed 
idea  that  death  was,  after  all,  to  be  earnestly  desu*ed,  as  the 
entrance  to  the  true  life,  coloured  all  their  thoughts,  and 
inspired  their  art — Avhat  we  have  termed  "  the  art  of  the 
catacombs."  They  loved  to  think  of  their  Lord  as  the  Good 
Shepherd,  and  of  themselves  as  His  sheep  gathered  out  of  the 
world ;  and  they  rejoiced  to  thmk  of  their  future  eternal 
home  under  the  imagery  of  a  garden,  where  the  Good  Shep- 
herd would  welcome  and  tenderly  care  for  His  own. 

Very  marked  was  the  change  in  Christian  art  in  the  age 
which  immediately  followed  the  Peace  and  the  triumph  of 
the  Church  in  a.d.  313.  In  the  basilicas  which  speedily  arose 
over  or  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  catacombs 
after  the  first  victory  of  the  Church  under  the  influence  of 
the  Emperor  Constantino,  the  sacred  pictures  and  sculptures 
were  no  longer  confined  to  what  has  been  graphically  termed 
the   alphabet  of  early   Christian  art,  the   figure   of  the  Good 

*  The  Virgin  and  Child  are  delineated  in  a  certain  number  of  instances,  but 
generally  with  the  accompanying  figures  of  the  Magi  or  "Wise  Men  with  their 
offerings  ;  and  in  these  instances  the  Holy  Child  is  the  central  figure  of  the  group. 
But  these  pictures,  after  all,  are  few  in  number.  Certain  sacred  Hebrew  subjects 
are  not  unfrequent,  such  as  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den ;  the  temptation  of  Susanna  ; 
the  trial  of  the  three  children  in  the  furnace  ;  Jonah  and  the  great  fish ;  the  latter 
being  by  far  the  favourite  subject  among  the  Hebrew  memories,  doubtless  owing 
to  the  reference  made  to  it  by  our  Lord. 


Photo  :  Mariani,  Rome. 

GROUP     OF    THE     BLESSED     IN     PARADISE. 

From  a  Fresco  in  the  Cemetery  of  S.  Soter  (Third  Century).      The  t..mb.s  are  of  later  date  than 

the  Fre.sco  of  the  "  Blessed." 


THE     GOOD     SHEPHERD. 

From  a  small  Marble  Statue  of  the  Second  or  Third  Century,  now  in  the  Lateran.     It  has  the 
characteristic  features  of  the  oldest  type  of  Catacomb  "  Shojiherd.  " 


THE   CATACOMBS    OF   ROME.  289 

Shepherd,  the  sheep,  the  lambs,  the  goats,  the  quiet  garden 
of  the  Blessed,  the  "  Orante,"  the  dove,  the  fish — all  these 
images  and  symbols  in  large  measure  pass  out  of  sight.  In 
the  grander  paintings,  in  the  rich  mosaics  produced  in  the 
new  era  of  the  Church's  victory,  the  visions  of  the  Apocalypse, 
the  mystic  revelation  of  S.  John,  rather  than  the  Gospel 
story,  supply  the  imagery.  The  Good  Shepherd  is  replaced 
by  the  noble  and  gracious  figure  of  the  Christ  in  glory,  of  the 
Christ  as  Judge  and  King.  It  is  ever  the  triumphant  Christ 
rather  than  the  Shepherd-Christ  who  is  now  depicted.  It 
is  the  Lamb  of  the  Apocalypse — "  the  Lamb  as  it  had  been 
slam,"  the  Lamb  bearing  the  Passion  marks  still ;  but  now 
represented  as  crowned  with  glory  and  enthroned,  adored  by 
all  that  is  greatest  and  noblest  in  Heaven  as  on  earth. 


290 


CHAPTER   XII. 

INNER    LIFE     OF     THE    CHURCH. 
SECTION     I. — ROME  ;     HIPPOLYTUS     AND     CALLISTUS. 

After  the  death  of  Clement,  about  the  last  year  of  the 
first  century,  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  we  hear  little  of  the 
Church  of  the  Metropolis  of  the  Empire.  The  shadow,  and 
only  the  shadow,  of  the  names  of  its  bishops  falls  upon  the 
page  of  the  historian  Eusebius.  Even  tradition  is  well-nigh 
silent  as  to  their  life  story.  Brief  mentions  are  made  of  a 
visit  of  Polycarp  in  the  middle  of  the  century,  when  the 
veteran  Bishop  of  Smyrna  conferred  v/ith  Anicetus  of  Rome, 
of  a  residence  in  Rome  of  Irenieus,  the  famous  Gallic  scholar 
and  Avriter,  subsequently  Bishop  of  Lyons.  Of  the  duration  of 
this  visit  we  know  nothing.  These  scanty  references  together 
with  the  "  Acts "  of  S.  Felicitas  and  her  sons,  which  tell  us 
something  of  the  trials  and  sufferings  of  Christians  in  the 
days  of  Marcus,  are  the  best  authenticated  notices  connected 
with  the  Church  in  Rome  that  we  possess.  But  that  the 
Church  in  Rome  during  this  period  was  growing  in  numbers, 
was  perfecting  its  organisation,  was  planning  and  gradually 
excavating  its  might}^  City  of  the  Dead  beneath  the  suburbs 
of  the  Metropolis,  is  clear  from  what  we  find  in  contemporary 
writings,  dating  from  early  in  the  third  century. 

In  the  last  years  of  the  second  century  began  the  famous 
disputes  concerning  "  church  discipline,"  on  which  we  are 
about  to  dwell  at  some  length  ;  disputes  which  more  or  less 
affected  the  whole  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  determined  in 
ofreat  measure  the  attitude  which  the  Christian  communities 
everywhere  were  to  assume  in  their  relations  with  the  society 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    CHURCH.  291 

of  the  Empire.  About  this  time,  the  close  of  the  second 
century,  the  Roman  community  possessed  perhaps  the  pro- 
foundest  scholar  and  thinker  in  Christendom.  This  was 
Hippolytus,  generally  styled  Bishop  of  Portus. 

Hippolytus  seriously  disagreed  with  the  policy  of  the 
Bishop  and  governing  body  of  the  Roman  community  in  the 
matter  of  Church  discipline ;  and  his  opposition  here  gravely 
affected  that  all-important  question,  daily  pressing  with  greater 
insistence  upon  the  fast  growing  body  of  Christians,  of  the 
general  relations  of  Christianity  to  the  society  of  the  Empire. 
The  Roman  theologian  was  supported  in  his  austere  views  by 
another  writer  and  teacher  of  the  highest  rank  in  another 
powerful  Christian  community.  This  was  Tertullian  of 
Carthage.  These  two  emment  men,  the  Roman  and  the 
African,  were  by  no  means  alone  in  their  contention  respecting 
the  alleged  laxity  of  discipline  prevailing  in  the  Church  in 
those  days,  a  laxity  which  included  certain  concessions  to  the 
Pagan  society  around  them. 

The  severer  and  more  austere  policy  of  Hippolytus,  Ter- 
tullian, and  their  school  was  tinally  rejected  by  the  Church 
of  Rome  ;  and  the  views  of  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus,  suc- 
cessively Bishops  of  the  Church  of  the  Metropolis,  in  the 
end  prevailed,  and  determined  generally  the  attitude  of  the 
Catholic  Church  to  the  Empire. 

But  the  powerful  advocacy  of  these  two  eminent  dissidents, 
as  contained  in  their  many  writings,  some  of  which  have  come 
down  to  us,  although  it  failed  to  influence  the  policy  of  Rome 
and  the  majority  of  the  Churches,  was  by  no  means  thro^vn 
away.  These  men  have  left  their  impress  upon  the  Church, 
and  their  noble,  if  at  times  curiously  exaggerated,  views  have 
in  all  ages  strongly  influenced  and  coloured  the  lives  of  not 
a  few  devoted  toilers  for  God. 

This  section  of  our  history  will  be  devoted  to  the  great 
dispute  which  had  so  far-reaching  an  influence  upon  the 
future  of  Christianity. 

We  learn  much  respecting  the  inner  life  of  the  Church 
in  Rome  as  it  existed  in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Severus, 
in   the  last  years  of  the  second  and  early  years  of  the  third 


292  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

century,  from  one  of  those  strange  "  finds "  which  now  and 
again  so  marvellously  assist  the  chroniclers  of  the  early 
days  of  Christianity. 

In   the   year   1842   an   anonymous  MS.    of  the   fourteenth 
century   was  brought  by  a  learned  Greek  in  the  employment 
of  the  French  Government   to  Paris  from  a  monastic  library 
on   Mount   Athos.     On   examination   it  was  found   to  contain 
the   continuation     of    a    fragment    entitled    Philosophumena, 
printed  in  the  Benedictine  edition  of  Origen's  works,  and  gener- 
ally considered  as  one  of  his  writings.     Certain  scholars,  however, 
had  already  questioned  Origen's    authorship  of  the  fragment. 
The   University  of  Oxford  printed  the  newly  discovered  MS., 
and   it   was   at   once   seen  to   be  a  literary   treasure    of   rare 
value.     Scholars  pronounced  it  to  be,  not   a  work  of  Origen, 
but   a   long   lost   writing   of  Hippolytus,  a  famous  Avriter  and 
teacher   of  the   closing  years  of  the  second  and  earlier  years 
of  the  third  century.     It  was  of  considerable  length,  and  was 
divided  into  ten  books,  the  second   and  third  of  which  were 
still  missing.     Its  title  was  "  The  Refutation  of  all  Heresies." 
Books  V.  and  X.  are,  perhaps,  the  most  important,  as  a  piece 
of  history,  and  contain   an   interesting   and   valuable   account 
of  the  early  heresies,  composed  by  a  great  scholar,  who  may 
be   termed   a   contemporary   witness    of    many   of   the   things 
about  which  he  Avas  writing.     The  value  of  such  a  testimony 
can  scarcely  be   over-estimated ;    for   Hippolytus  was   a  well- 
known   and  often   quoted   teacher,  and  a  disciple  of  Irena3us. 
The   tenth   book   of  the   "Refutation"   is   a   summary   of  the 
whole  work,  and  contains  besides  an  exposition  of  the  learned 
writer's  own  religious  opinions.     As  we  have  said,  Hippolytus 
and  his  works  were  very  widely  known  and  highly  esteemed 
in   ancient   times.      To   give   a  few   instances   out    of    a   long 
catena  of  patristic  references,   Eusebius    and    Jerome   in   the 
fourth  century  speak  of  him,  Epiphanius  (fourth  century)  in 
his  great   work  on  Heresies   largely  borrowed  from  him,  and 
Photius  (ninth  century)  in  his  marvellous  epitome  of  ancient 
Greek  literature,  describes  with  some  detail  a  yet  earher  and 
shorter   work  of  Hippolytus  on  heresies.      He  has   been  well 
described   as    one    "who    linked    together    the    learning    and 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    GEURGH.  293 

tradition  of  the  East,  the  original  home  of  Christianity 
with  the  marvellous  practical  energy  of  the  West,  the  scene 
of  his  own  life's  labours  ,  .  .  He  Avas  besides  in  his  time,  as 
far  as  we  know,  the  most  learned  man  in  the  AVestern 
Church." 

For  our  present  work  the  importance  of  the  comparatively 
recently  discovered  writing  of  the  great  scholar  Hippolytus 
consists  not  in  his  elaborate  and  learned  history  of  the  many 
heresies  more  or  less  connected,  though  many  of  them  but 
remotely,  with  Christianity,  but  with  the  strong  side-light 
which  his  great  treatise  throws  upon  the  inner  life  of  the 
Italian  Church  with  which  he  was  especially  connected. 

He  dwells  with  peculiar  insistence  upon  a  bitter  feud 
which  apparently  raged  for  some  years  in  the  Eoman  com- 
munity, and  in  his  description  of  it  he  incidentally  shows  us 
how  far-reaching  was  the  influence  of  Christianity  on  Roman 
society  before  the  second  century  had  yet  run  its  course. 

It  is,  of  course,  saddening  for  those  who  fondly  picture  to 
themselves  the  Church  of  the  first  and  second  centuries  as 
a  Church  of  saints,  without  spot  or  wrinkle,  to  hear  of  bitter 
enmities  and  tierce  wranglings  in  the  very  centre  of  her 
blessed  activities;  to  be  compelled  slowly  and  painfuUy  to 
disentanoie  the  confused  threads  of  the  over-coloured  narrative 
of  one  of  the  principal  disputants.  But  the  truth  must  be 
told,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  in  the  laying  of  the  early 
storeys  of  Christianity  light  ever  alternated  with  darkness. 
Then,  as  now,  human  passions,  jealousies,  short-sightedness, 
sadly  interfered  with  the  building  of  the  City  of  God.  It 
was  a  strange  sight  indeed,  under  the  very  shadow  of  the 
sword  of  persecution  which  then  hung  over  the  Churches  of 
God,  ready  to  fall  at  any  moment !  All  through  this  eventful 
story,  the  special  incidents  related  of  this  or  that  individual 
teacher  or  confessor,  of  this  or  that  lonely  community — 
incidents  on  whose  authenticity  no  shadow  of  doubt  rests 
— have  been  only  examples  or  instances  of  what  was  taking  place 
in  many  another  Christian  centre.  So  also  here,  what  was  taking 
place  on  the  larger  and  more  prominent  stage  of  Imperial 
Eome  no  doubt  often  took  place  in  less  public  and  notorious 


294  EAllLT    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

centres.  The  troubles  of  Rome,  of  which  Hippolytus  tells  us 
were  not  peculiar  to  the  great  Church  of  the  capital. 

The  story  of  these  Roman  dissensions,  grievous  though 
they  doubtless  were  to  the  sorely  tried  Christian  persecuted 
ones,  is  very  suggestive  for  us  who  read  it  after  all  these  cen- 
turies of  anxiety  and  disappointment,  of  baffled  hopes  and 
weary  expectations,  but  on  the  whole  of  real  progress.  First 
and  foremost  it  reminds  us  that  our  Lord  and  Master  has 
ever  worked  on  earth  with  poor  and  often  faulty  instruments, 
and  yet  that  these,  in  the  long  run,  do  His  work — as  then,  so 
now.  With  no  uncertain  voice  it  tells  those  among  us  often 
disappointed  and  discouraged  at  the  grave  cleavages  and  sharp 
strifes  which  still  divide  Christian  folk  on  earth,  which  set 
church  against  church,  communion  against  communion,  family 
against  family,  that  it  was  ever  so  from  the  very  beginning, 
when  the  sharp  dissension  between  Paul  and  Barnabas  separated 
men  who  had  seen  the  Lord,  and  even  heard  His  voice ;  that 
it  was  so  in  the  days  of  Hippolytus,  so  near,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  the  men  who  had  learned  their  lessons  from  a  Polycarp 
and  a  John.  And  it  tells  us  too,  singularly  enough,  as  far 
as  we  can  judge  from  the  very  words  of  Hippolytus  himself, 
that  Hippolytus,  the  most  learned  of  living  Christian  teachers, 
was,  on  the  whole,  in  the  wronof.''^ 

The  story  of  the  feud  is  as  follows  (we  give  it  from  Hip- 
polytus' own  narrative,  contained  in  his  recently  discovered 
"  Refutation  of  all  Heresies,"  Book  IX.,  Chap.  VH.).  In  the 
reign  of  the  Emperor  Commodus,  Marcus'  son  and  successor, 
there  lived  in  Rome  a  Christian  slave  named  Callistus.  His 
master  was  one  Carpophorus,  also  a  Christian,  and  an  official 
in  the  Imperial  palace.  Apparently  Callistus  was  an  able 
business  man,  for  Carpophorus  entrusted  him  with  money, 
and  set  him  up  in  business  as  a  money-changer  and  banker. 
In  this  calling  he  evidently  for  a  time  was  successful ;  for  many 

*  Yet  even  here  modern  scholars  differ.  For  instance,  Dean  Milman  of 
S.  Paul's  (Lalin  Christianity,  Book  I.,  Chap.  I.),  a  generally  fair  historian, 
considers  Hippolytus  was  on  the  whole  in  the  right,  and  that  his  adversary 
Callistus  was  an  ambitious  intriguer.  This  eminent  scholar  and  thinker  in 
this  case  seems  to  have  lost  sight  of  the  great  questions  upon  which  this  con- 
tention was  really  based,  in  which  Hippolytus  was  clearly  in  error. 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    GRVRCH.  295 

Christians  and  others  were  in  the  habit  of  depositing  money 
with  him.  Then  came  on  a  period  of  difficulty,  and  CaUistus 
lost  all  his  capital  and,  fearful  of  his  master's  anger,  attempted 
to  fly ;  but  was  arrested  at  Portus  and  brought  back  to  Rome. 
The  angry  Carpophorus  at  once  dispatched  his  unlucky  slave  to 
the  "  pistrinum,"  or  prison  where  refractory  slaves  were  sent 
for  punishment  by  their  masters.  How  terrible  was  the  fate 
of  a  slave  thus  punished  we  learn  from  a  weird  description  by 
a  contemporary  writer,  Apuleius.  "  Ye  gods !  what  men  I  saw 
there,  their  white  skin  cut  about  with  the  lashes  of  a  whip, 
and  marked  as  if  with  paint ;  their  gashed  backs  hung  over 
with  the  tatters  of  their  jackets,  rather  than  covered;  some 
of  them  wore  only  a  small  girdle  round  their  loins,  in  all  of 
them  their  naked  body  could  be  seen  through  their  rags. 
They  were  branded  on  their  foreheads,  their  heads  were  half 
shorn,  on  their  feet  they  wore  iron  rings,  their  pallor  was 
hideous,  their  eyelids  were  as  it  were  eaten  away  by  the 
smoke  and  vapour  of  the  dark  atmosphere,  so  that  they 
scarcely  had  the  use  of  their  eyes  any  more."  After  a  time 
Carpophorus  had  him  released  on  the  prayer  of  some  pitiful 
Christian,  who  persuaded  him  that  some  of  the  lost  money 
could  be  recovered  by  Callistus  from  parties  who  were  in  debt 
to  him.  These  parties  were  Jews,  who,  evidently  indignant 
with  Callistus  when  he  tried  to  collect  his  debts,  accused  him 
to  the  Prefect  of  the  City,  alleging  that  he  had  made  a  tumult 
and  had  disturbed  them  in  their  synagogue.  The  Prefect,  too 
readily  believing  any  accusation  against  a  Christian,  condemned 
the  unhappy  Callistus  to  the  unhealthy  mines  of  Sardinia. 
From  these  mines  he  was  eventually  released,  with  many  other 
Christian  sufferers,  owing  to  the  good  offices  of  Marcia,  the 
favourite  of  Commodus,  who  was  kindly  disposed  to  the 
Christians — possibly  a  Christian  herself.  Callistus  then  dwelt 
at  Antium,  where  he  was  assisted  by  Victor,  who  was  Bishop 
of  Rome,  a.d.  192-202. 

This  sad  tale  of  slavery,  misfortune  and  suffering  is  related 
by  Hippolytus,  who,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  Callistus' 
bitter  foe.  Much,  apparently,  is  omitted,  for  there  was  evi- 
dently something  in  the  slave's   life  very  striking,  something 


296  EABLY    GHllISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

that  marked  him  out  as  especially  capable  and  able,  more 
simied  against  than  sinning ;  for  we  find  the  next  Bishop  of 
Rome,  Zephyrinus,  who  succeeded  Pope  Tictor  in  a.d.  202, 
sending  for  Callistus  from  Antium,  and  conferring  on  him 
high  and  responsible  office  in  the  Christian  coumiunity  of 
Rome. 

Pope  Zephyrinus,  "to  his  own  great  misfortune,"  writes 
Hippol3-tus,  appointed  Callistus  "  over  the  cemetery,"  and 
entrusted  him  besides  with  the  direction  and  supervision  of 
the  Roman  clergy.  Zephyrinus,  too,  is  depicted  by  Hippolytus 
as  a  man  of  little  education,  ignorant  of  ecclesiastical  law,  and 
even  covetous.  Upon  the  death  of  Zephyrinus,  Callistus  was 
elected  by  the  clergy  Bishop  of  Rome,  a.d.  219.  Hippolytus 
thus  curiously  writes  of  the  great  promotion  of  the  former 
slave,  who  had  suffered  so  much  and  such  grievous  things  in 
his  earlier  life :  "  He  believed  that  on  Zephyrinus'  death  he 
(Callistus)  had  attained  the  goal  at  which  he  had  aimed."  No 
doubt  by  his  wise  administration  of  the  cemetery  and  the 
burial  of  Christians,  and  by  his  skill  and  tact  in  the  direction 
and  supervision  of  the  clergy  to  which  the  late  Pope  had 
appointed  him,  he  had  won  the  respect  and  love  of  at  least 
the  majority  of  the  numerous  body  consisting  of  presbyters, 
deacons,  and  the  inferior  orders  of  sub-deacons  and  others 
who  made  up  the  official  ranks  of  the  Roman  Church.*  Such 
is  the  strange  and  somewhat  painful  story  with  which  Hip- 
polytus prefaces  his  account  of  the  grave  difterences  which 
arose  between  the  newl}^  elected  Bishop  of  Rome,  Callistus, 
and  himself  One  point  more,  however,  must  be  briefly  touched 
upon  before  we  dwell  upon  these  differences,  the  recital  of 
which  throws  so  much  light  upon  the  practice  and  teaching  of 
the  Church  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  century.  What 
office  or  position  was  it  which  this  Hippolytus  held  in  the 
Catholic  Church  ? 

*  Dr.  Diillmger  (HipjJolytus  and  CaUhtns,  chaps,  ii.-vii.),  basing  his  calcu- 
lation upon  a  well-known  summary  of  the  number  of  clergy  and  church 
dependants  given  by  Cornelius,  a.d.  250.  Eusebius,  H.  E.,  vi.  43,  considers 
that  the  organised  Church  of  Eome  about  this  time  numbered  some  fifty  thousand 
souls.  This  calculation  of  Cornelius  was  made  some  fifteen  years  after  the 
death  of  Hippolytus. 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    GHUBGH.  297 

He  describes  himself  as  "  a  bishop ; "  he  is  also  generally 
so  styled  by  all  the  ancients  who  refer  to  his  teachings  and 
writings,  as  for  instance  by  Eusebius  and  Jerome.  But 
strange  to  say  no  one  among  the  comparatively  early  writers 
mentions  his  diocese.  Among  the  Greek  and  Oriental  Churches 
a  common  tradition  existed  that  Hippolytus  was  Bishop  of 
Rome.  But  then  the  earliest  Eastern  author  who  can  be 
quoted  here  wrote  at  Constantinople  circa  a.d.  582,  that  is 
to  sa}^  late  in  the  sixth  century,  and  Hippolytus  lived  in 
the  first  quarter  of  the  third  century.  In  the  seventh  and 
eighth  centuries  this  opinion  was  apparently  a  common  one 
in  the  Eastern  Church. 

A  still  more  general  tradition  placed  the  see  of  this 
famous  writer  at  Portus,  a  harbour  situated  on  the  right  arm 
of  the  Tiber,  which  eventually  superseded  the  more  ancient 
Ostia  as  the  harbour  of  Rome,  the  port  of  Ostia  becoming 
gradually  blocked  with  sand ;  but  here  again  the  tradition 
which  made  him  Bishop  of  Portus  is  an  Oriental  one,  and 
does  not  appear  in  any  writing  earlier  than  circa  a.d.  630. 

The  testimony  of  Eusebius,  who  wrote  much  earlier, 
circa  a.d.  325,  is  interesting.  Eusebius,  who  flourished  within 
some  eighty  years  of  Hippolytus'  death,  simply  confesses  his 
ignorance.  Hip|)olytus,  he  says,  "was  a  bishop  somewhere 
or  other."  Jerome,  writing  about  half  a  century  later  than 
Eusebius,  confesses  that  he  has  "not  been  able  to  find  out 
the  city"  of  which  he  was  bishop.  Among  eminent  modern 
scholars,  Dcillinger,  at  considerable  length,  argues  that  he 
was  a  schismatical  Bishop  of  Rome,  in  fact  the  first  anti-Pope. 
Bishop  Lightfoot,  with  considerable  ingenuity,  maintained  that 
he  never  held  any  definite  see,  but  was  simply  bishop  in 
charge  of  the  various  shifting  nationalities  represented  in 
the  busy  Roman  harbour  of  Portus,  and  was  appointed  to 
the  charge  by  Pope  Victor,  who  preceded  Zephyrinus  in  the 
see  of  Rome. 

The  question  of  the  site  of  his  bishoprick,  Avhich  has  been 
much  debated,  will  probably  never  be  definitely  answered 
now.  Rome,  however,  it  is  certain  was  the  scene  of  his 
activities  for  many  years.     This   would   fit   in   with   either   of 


298 


EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 


the  above  mentioned  hypotheses  of  the  German  and  the 
English  scholars.  Round  the  complete  life  story  of  this 
great  theologian  and  writer,  however,  rest  clouds  of  uncertainty 
and  doubt.  What  is  absolutely  certain  is  that  during  a 
considerable  portion  of  his  life  he  was  the  Roman  leader  of 
the  party  of  rigorous  unbending  severity,  in  open  opposition 
to  the  policy  of  the  Catholic  Church  which  allowed  to 
Christian  converts  a  certain  liberty  in  their  actions,  and 
encouraged  them  to  share,  to  a  considerable  extent,  in  the 
public  life  around  them.  The  first  friend  and  patron  of 
Hippolytus  was  Pope  Victor,  whose  rule  was  coterminous 
with  the  last  decade  of  the  second  century.  Zephyrinus 
succeeded  Victor,  and  durino-  his  reio-n  over  the  Roman  Church 
of  nearly  seventeen  years  Callistus  appears  to  have  been 
his  adviser  and  minister.  The  approximate  dates  of  the 
Popes  or  Bishops  of  Rome  of  the  period  are  as  follow : 


A.D. 

Pope  Victor     

192 

„     Zephyrinus 

202 

„      Callistus 

219 

222 

„      Urban 

223 

„     Pontianus 

230 

„     Anteros 

235 

„     Fabianus 

236 

250 

„     Cornelius 

251 

„      Lucius 

252 

T        f\      IT      1 

During  the  pontificates  of  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus,  a.d.  202- 
222,  the  deadly  feud  we  are  about  to  speak  of  raged  between 
the  great  scholar  Hippolytus  and  the  two  Popes,  largely 
on  questions  connected  with  discipline,  although  questions 
on  the  Trinitarian  doctrine  also  divided  them  for  a  time. 
During  the  pontificate  of  Urban,  who  succeeded  Callistus 
as  Bishop  of  Rome,  we  hear  no  more  of  the  feud.  It  is 
possible,  after  the  passing  away  of  the  two  men  Zephyrinus 
and  Callistus,  that  Hippolytus  ceased  from  active  opposition 
to  the  recognised  policy  of  the  Church,  and  devoted  himself 
exclusively  to   his   scholarly  work.     This  pontificate  of  Urban, 


S.     HIPPOLYTUS. 

A  Marble  Statue  attributed  to  tlie  Third  Century  ;  found  in  L5.'>1,  much  mutilated, 
and  witliout  tlie  head,  near  the  Cemetery  of  Hiijpolytu.s  (Rome),  a  list  of  whose 
works  is  inscribed  on  the  chair.     Now  in  the  Latcran. 


INNER    LIFE    OF   THE    CHURGH.  299 

A.D.  223-230,  was  a  time  generally  speaking  of  perfect  still- 
ness for  the  Church.  The  Emperor  Alexander  Severus  was 
reigning,  and  though  not  a  convert  himself  was  ever  most  favour- 
ably disposed  to  Christianity.  In  this  period  Hippolytus, 
then  an  old  man,  put  out  his  most  famous  works,  one  of 
which,  the  "  Refutation  of  all  Heresies,"  we  have  been  speaking 
of  as  lately  re-discovered,  and  which  as  throwing  a  flood  of 
light  upon  the  organisation  and  teaching  of  this  early 
period  has  been  well  described  as  having  laid  these  latest 
generations  of  Christians  under  the  deepest  debt  of  gratitude.* 

At  length  the  long,  laborious,  and  troubled  life  of  the  great 
scholar  was  closed  by  banishment  and  death.  About  the  year 
230  Urban  was  succeeded  by  Pontianus  as  Bishop  of  Rome. 
In  A.D.  235  Alexander  Severus  was  murdered,  and  was  succeeded 
by  the  Emperor  Maximinus,  a  fierce,  rough  soldier,  who  reversed 
the  policy  of  Alexander  Severus,  and  during  his  brief  tenure 
of  the  Imperial  power  bitterl}^  persecuted  the  Christians. 
Pope  Pontianus  was  banished  to  the  unhealthy  island  of 
Sardinia.  With  Pontianus  Hippolytus  was  also  sent  to  the 
dread  Sardinia  mines,  and  there  both  Pope  and  scholar, 
according  to  some  accounts,  died  very  soon.  Of  the  circum- 
stances of  their  death  we  know  nothing  for  certain.  Their 
bodies  were,  however,  brought  back  to  Rome.  Pope  Pontianus 
was  laid  in  the  Papal  Crypt,  a  chamber  of  the  cemetery  of 
Callistus  on  the  Appian  Way,  and  Hippolytus  was  buried  in 
another  Christian  cemetery  on  the  Tiburtine  Way,  not  very  far 
from  the  famous  Prastorian  Camp,  hard  by  the  spot  where 
subsequently  arose  the  great  basilica  of  S.  Laurence. 

The  exact  dates  are  a  little  confused.  An  ancient  tradition, 
however,  tells  us  that  the  two  martyrs  were  deposited  in  their 
several  resting-places  on  the  self-same  day,  viz.  the  Ides  of 
August,  A.D.  236,  and  this  traditional  date  is  the  one  gener- 
ally accepted. 

In  the  year  1551  a  mutilated  statue  was  discovered  in 
the  place  where  originally  the  sanctuary  of  Hippolytus  had 
been  built.  The  head  of  the  statue  was  missing,  and  there 
was  no  name  to  identify  it,  but  on  the  back  and  sides  of  the 

*  Bishop  Lightfoot,   Clement  of  Rome,  vol.  ii.,  p.  437. 


300  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

chair,  in  which  the  figure  sits,  was  engraved  a  Hst  of  writings 
known  to  have  been  the  works  of  Hippolytus.  On  one  side 
of  the  chair  is  inscribed  a  calendar  for  determining  the  Paschal 
full  moon.  No  doubt  rests  upon  the  universally  received 
assumption  that  the  statue  is  a  figure  of  Hippolytus.  It  is 
considered  to  be  the  oldest  marble  statue  of  Christian  work- 
manship, and  probably  belongs  to  the  first  half  of  the  third 
century.  We  have  no  knowledge  of  any  similar  mark  of 
respect  ever  paid  to  any  bishop  or  eminent  teacher  in  the 
first  few  centuries."^ 

Testimonies  from  ancient  writers  to  the  widespread  influ- 
ence of  Hippolytus  and  his  works  have  been  already  briefly 
referred  to.  After  his  death  he  was  the  recipient  for  a  long 
period  and  in  various  lands  of  many  posthumous  honours 
besides  the  dignity  of  saintship  in  the  Church  where  he 
laboured  for  so  many  years ;  a  dignity  which,  however,  he 
shares  with  not  a  few  whose  claims  to  it  are  perhaps  some- 
what questionable.  Pope  Damasus,  a.d.  366-384,  the  great 
restorer  of  the  Koman  sanctuaries,  found  a  small  chapel  con- 
taining the  remains  of  the  eminent  writer  and  scholar,  which 
he  enlarged  and  beautified.  In  the  last  years  of  the  fourth 
or  very  early  in  the  fifth  century,  the  Spanish  Christian  poet, 
Prudentius,  devoted  some  two  hundred  and  forty-six  lines  in 
his  series  of  fourteen  poems  in  honour  of  various  martyrs 
(the  Peri  Stejjhanun  liher)  exclusively  to  Hippolytus.  But 
when  Prudentius  wrote,  legendary  history  had  already  gathered 
thickly  round  the  memory  of  the  scholar-martyr,  and  the 
details  he  gives  us  are  quite  unreliable.  Historically,  the 
only  value  of  Prudentius'  poem  is  to  show  how  magnificently 
the  shrme  of  Hippolytus  was  adorned  in  his,  Prudentius',  days 
— end  of  the  fourth  century.  The  cult  of  the  famous  teacher 
was  then  evidently  at  its  zenith. 

In  the  barbarian  raids  of  the  following  centuries  the  shrine 
and  basilica  of  Hippolytus  seems  to  have  suffered  severely. 
Pope  Paul  I,  between  a.d.  757  and  a.d.  768,  amongst  other 
precious    relics    is    said    to    have    translated   the    remains    of 

*  This  celeLrated  statue  is  now  in  a  prominent  position  in  the  Lateran 
Museum  ;  the  head  and  upper  part,  which  were  mutilated,  have  been  restored. 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    CHUBGH.  301 

Hippolytus  to  the  Church  of  S.  Silvestro  in  Capite  (so  called 
from  the  head  of  S.  John  the  Baptist,  which  has  ever  been 
its  most  precious  relic*).  Curiously  enough,  another  transla- 
tion of  the  body  of  Hippolytus  is  related  to  have  taken  place 
under  Pope  Leo  IV.,  a.d.  847-55,  to  the  Church  of  the  Quattro 
Coronati  on  the  Coelian ;  and  yet  a  third  translation  of  the 
honoured  remains  under  Pope  Honorius  III.,  ciy^ca  a.d.  1216, 
to  the  neighbourins:  basilica  of  S.  Laurentius  is  chronicled  in 
trustworthy  records.  These  stories  of  successive  translations, 
and  of  different  churches,  each  possessing  the  body  of  the 
saint,  are  probably  due  to  the  not  uncommon  practice  of 
calling  any  limb  or  portion  of  the  saint  "  the  body  " — a  custom 
responsible  for  not  a  little  confusion  in  many  cases. 

These  successive  mentions  of  the  translation  of  the  remains, 
or  more  probably  portions  of  the  remains,  of  Hippolytus,  in 
different  ages  to  important  Roman  churches  by  no  means 
exhaust  our  records  of  the  enduring  respect  shown  by  the 
Catholic  Church  to  the  memory  of  one  of  the  earliest  and 
greatest  of  her  theologians. 

In  the  pontificate  of  Siricius,  a.d.  384-98,  another  memoria 
or  chapel  of  the  holy  martyr  Hippolytus  is  known  to  have 
been  erected  among  the  buildings  of  the  famous  church  and 
monastery  of  S.  Pudentiana.  In  Portus,  the  harbour  of  Rome, 
with  which  important  maritime  centre  the  name  of  the  great 
scholar,  as  we  have  mentioned  already,  is  closely  connected 
as  bishop,  the  tower  of  an  ancient  church  bearing  his  honoured 
name  can  still  be  seen  rising  above  the  desolate  and  lonely 
Campagna. 

Beyond  the  confines  of  Italy  even  we  can  find  traces  of 
the  ancient  reverence  paid  to  the  famous  Italian  scholar.  In 
Aries,  the  ancient  city  of  Southern  Gaul,  there  is  a  church 
of  great  antiquity  dedicated  to  him.  Nor  is  this  the  only 
relic  of  the  honours  sho^vn  him  in  the  Gallic  province  ;  for  in 
the  north,  among  the  sacred  treasures  of  the  royal  and  illus- 
trious abbey  of  S.  Denis,  close  to  Paris,  for  a  long  period 
portions  of  the  body  of  Hippolytus  were  venerated  under  the 

*  The  writer  believes  that  this  famous  relic  of  the  Baptist  has  been  of  late 
years  removed  to  the  Vatican  for  greater  security. 


302  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

name  of  S.  Bilt.  Even  in  distant  Cologne,  on  the  Rhine,  the 
Church  of  S.  Ursula  clainis  to  possess  other  relics. 

We  are  brought  into  very  close  touch  with  this  far  back 
time  when  Hippolytus  and  Callistus  lived,  by  the  recent  dis- 
coveries of  De  Rossi  in  the  catacomb  named  after  the  latter. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Pope  Zephyrinus  appointed  his 
friend  and  adviser  Calhstus  over  "  the  Cemetery."  Now  we 
learn  from  the  Liber  Pontificalis  and  from  various  other 
sources  that  the  earliest  successors  of  S.  Peter,  with  rare 
exceptions,  were  laid  near  the  body  of  the  blessed  Peter  in 
the  Vatican  crypt.  But  very  early  in  the  third  century  a 
special  chamber  was  prepared,  evidently  with  extraordinary 
care,  b}^  Callistus  under  the  direction  of  Zephyrinus ;  and  in 
this  sacred  chamber  a  long  line  of  Popes  were  laid  to  rest. 
De  Rossi,  in  the  course  of  his  excavations  in  that  catacomb, 
came  upon  an  exceptional  number  of  "graffiti"''^  or  rough 
inscriptions  carved  by  early  pilgrims  to  these  shrines ;  and 
recognised  at  once  that  he  was  on  the  threshold  of  a  very 
special  sanctuary  of  the  ancient  Church.  This  was  the  Papal 
crypt  on  which  for  many  centuries  no  eye  had  looked.  It 
was  in  a  state  of  utter  ruin  and  disorder ;  but  the  remains  ot 
beautiful  and  costly  work  were  there,  traces  of  the  reverent 
care  with  which  several  generations  of  the  ancient  Church 
had  adorned  the  sacred  chamber.  A  few  partly  shattered 
gravestones  found  among  the  ruins  and  the  broken  debris 
revealed  to  the  great  scholar  the  cause  of  this  evidently 
long  continued  veneration  on  the  part  of  the  pilgrims  of 
early  times. 

On  these  scarred  and  mutilated  slabs,  each  of  which  had 
once  closed  the  niche  where  a  body  had  been  laid,  De  Rossi 
found  the  historic  names  of  Popes  Anteros  and  Fabianus,  of 
Lucius   and   Eutychianus,  successively  Bishops  of  Rome.     On 

*  These  "graffiti"  are  little  more  than  rough  scribhlings  of  names  of  these 
early  visitors ;  sometimes  the  names  are  accompanied  with  a  few  words  of 
prayer  for  those  they  loved  best.  They  fancied,  did  these  pilgrims,  that  a  prayer 
carved  in  such  a  place  hard  by  the  sepulchre  of  a  saintly  person,  such  as  a 
martyr,  v,oiild  be  peculiarly  efficacious.  The  presence  of  a  number  of  these 
ancient  pilgrim  "  graffiti "  on  the  walls  is  a  sure  index  that  a  specially  hallowed 
shrine  is  close  by. 


Photo  :   Anderson,  Rome. 

THE     PAPAL    CRYPT,     AS    first    discovered    by    de    rossi. 
Cemetery  of  S.  Callistus  (Third  Century). 


Photo  :    Murium,  hn 


THE     PAPAL     CRYPT 

IN      THE     TIME      OF      POPE      DAMASUS     (FOURTH      CENTURy). 

AccnniiiiL'  to  I>c  Rnssi's  Hi-.st"niticiii. 


INXEB    LIFE    OF    THE    GRURGH.  303 

the  stones  of  Anteros,  Fabianus,  and  Eutychianus  the  title 
Episcopus  (Bishop)  followed  the  name,  and  the  yet  prouder 
title  of  martyr  was  added  to  the  name  of  Fabian.  Anteros 
and  Fabianus  were  contemporaries  of  Hippolytus.  De  Kossi 
has  no  doubt  that  these  four  broken  stones  were  the  original 
tombstones  of  the  third  century  Popes  whose  names  they 
bear.*  In  this  chamber  of  undying  "  memories  "  it  is  recorded 
that  Zephyrinus  also  was  buried;  not  so  Callistus,  who  was 
interred  in  a  cemetery  in  the  Trastevere  quarter,  near  the 
spot  where  he  suffered  martyrdom  in  a  popular  tumult. 
Urban,  who  succeeded  Callistus,  Pontianus,  Anteros,  Fabianus, 
Lucius,  Eutychianus,  and  probably  others,  were  all  buried 
in  this  sacred  chamber.  The  graves  of  other  famous  third 
century  Popes  have  been  identified  in  different  parts  of  the 
vast  subterranean  area  occupied  by  the  great  cemetery  or 
catacomb  of  the  Appian  Way.f 

The  charges  which  Hippolytus  brings  against  the  acts  of 
Pope  Calhstus  during  his  government  of  the  see  of  Rome 
are  specially  important  and  interesting  to  the  Church 
historian ;  for  they,  as  it  has  been  said,  give  many  particulars 
respecting  the  inner  life  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  first 
years  of  the  third  century. 

Within  the  same  decade  as  Hippolytus,  i.e.  the  closing  years 
of  the  second  and  the  opening  years  of  the  third  centuries,  the 
brilliant  and  eloquent  TertuUian,  at  great  length  and  with 
much  detail  in  his  "  Apology "  and  in  various  other  treatises 
and  "  studies,"  covers  much  of  the  same  ground  and  makes 
very  similar  charges  against  the  current  Church  policy  of  the 
age.  Tertullian's  pictures,  to  which  we  shall  presently  revert, 
are  drawn  from  Christian  life  in  Carthage  and  the  wealthy 
and  populous  pro-consulate  of  North  Africa.  Hippolytus,  of 
course,  founds  his  strictures  on  the  government  and  management 
of  the   Christian   Church   in   his   age   and   time,    on   his   own 

*  These  historical  slabs,  carefully  repaired,  have  heeu  replaced  on  the  walls  of 
the  Papal  Crj'pt. 

t  Hippolytus,  whose  body  was  also  brought  back  to  Rome  with  that  of 
Pontianus,  was  buried,  as  we  have  seen,  in  another  cemetery  on  the  Tiburtine  Way, 
on  the  same  daj'  that  Pontianus,  also  Bishop  of  Eome,  was  laid  in  the  Papal  Crypt 
of  the  cemetery  of  Callistus. 


304  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

personal  experiences  of  the  great  Christian  community  at  Rome 
and  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  Imperial  city. 

One  of  the  leading  accusations  of  Hippolytus  charged  the 
Bishop  of  Rome,  Callistus,  with  being  the  first  who  had 
publicly  proclaimed  the  principle  of  the  possibility  of  the 
Church  granting  absolution  of  all  sins,  even  of  the  gravest 
character.  The  arrangements  which  Callistus  had  made  on 
the  subject  of  absolution  were  evidently  not  transitory  but 
lasting,  as  Hippolytus  speaks  of  them  as  still  in  force  circa 
A.D.    230,  some  seven  yesivs  after  the  Bishop's  death. 

The  question  of  a  reconciliation  of  sinners  with  the  Church 
had  already  been  mooted  in  the  Roman  community ;  the  pre- 
decessor of  Callistus,  Pope  Zephyrmus,  having  mitigated  the 
original  strict  penance  discipline  by  declaring  that  even  those 
who  had  been  guilty  of  the  grave  sins  of  adultery  and  idolatry 
might  again  be  admitted  to  communion  after  performing 
public  penance.  It  appears  that  a  further  movement  in  the 
direction  of  leniency  took  place  after  the  Decian  persecution, 
circa  A.D.  249,  and  the  principle  of  not  shutting  out  from 
communion  for  ever  those  who  had  lapsed  in  the  days  of 
trial  was  admitted. 

From  letters  written  from  Rome  to  Cyprian  of  Carthage, 
circa  A.D.  250,  we  find  that  the  severe  discipline  of  earher 
days  had  been  considerably  modified,  in  accordance  with  the 
policy  so  hateful  to  Hippolytus  and  Tertulhan  and  the  school 
of  the  Rigorists.  Callistus,  however,  and  in  a  measure  his 
predecessor  and  friend.  Pope  Zephyrinus,  were  probably  the 
first  who  pubHcly  urged  this;  the  principle  which  was 
eventually  endorsed  by  Cyprian  was  first  formally  recognised 
at  Rome,  and  a  hope  of  re-admission  to  the  Church  was  held 
out  even  to  those  who  had  sinned  most  grievously. 

But  even  before  Calhstus  and  the  Roman  community 
publicly  affirmed  the  Church's  willingness  to  receive  back 
into  her  fold  grievous  sinners  if  they  repented,  this  milder 
discipline  had  found  advocates;  for  we  find  Dionysius  of 
Corinth,  circa  A.D.  169,  writing  to  Christian  communities  in 
Pontus,  urging  that  all  who  had  in  any  way  been  regarded  as 
heretical,   or  had   committed    any   crime   whatever,   ought    to 


INNER   LIFE    OF    TEE    CHUEGH.  305 

be  received  again  into  the  fold  if  they  turned  again  to  the 
Church,  thus  gravely  condemning  the  idea  of  perpetual 
excommunication. 

In  this  as  in  other  matters,  as  we  shall  see,  Callistus  and 
the  Roman  Church  adopted  a  liberal  and  generous  pohcy, 
but  one  which  Avas  by  no  means  universally  followed ;  since 
from  the  canons  of  the  Council  of  Elvira  (Illiberis),  a  very 
important  assembly  held  scarcely  eighty  years  after  Callistus' 
death,'^  we  see  that  the  Spanish  Church  still  held  to  the 
principle  of  perpetual  excommunication  in  the  case  of  certain 
grievous  sins. 

Hippolytus  further  charges  Callistus  with  sanctioning  the 
ordination  of  men  who  had  been  married  twice  or  thrice  to 
the  higher  ranks  among  the  clergy,  including  here  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons.  The  words  of  S.  Paul  in  1  Tim.  iii.  2-12, 
and  Titus  i.  6,  have  been  in  all  ages  variously  understood. 
Origen,  however,  circa  a.d.  230,  writes  that  it  was  the  rule 
that  a  bishop,  a  presbyter,  and  a  deacon  (and  he  adds  a  widow, 
referring,  of  course,  to  the  "  office  bearing  "  widows  of  1  Tim.  v. 
•^-10)  should  not,  when  ordained,  have  married  a  second  time. 
TertuUian's  express  reference  to  the  custom  in  the  same  period 
tells  us  that  this  was  generally  the  ecclesiastical  rule.  But 
it  is  clear  from  TertuUian's  words  that  exceptions  had  been 
not  infrequently  made,  especially  in  cases  where  the  second 
marriage  had  been  concluded  before  baptism. 

Dr.  Dollinger  {Hippolytus  and  Callistus,  chap,  iii.),  in 
the  course  of  a  lengthy  dissertation  on  the  disputed  question, 
weightily  remarks  with  reference  to  these  charges  brought 
by  Hippolytus  and  Tertullian  against  the  practice  of  the 
Catholic  Church  of  the  time,  that  "  the  difference  was  evidently 
made  between  second  marriages  contracted  before  and  after 
baptism,  and  that  several  were  made  bishops  in  spite  of  the 
double  marriages,  because  it  was  thought  their  stain  might  be 
overlooked  as  something  belonging  to  the  heathen  period  of 
their  life."  This  concession  was  not,  however,  recognised  by 
stricter  teachers  like  Hippolytus  and   Tertullian,  the  latter  of 

*  The  exact  date  of  this  Council  is  disputed.  That  usually  given  is  302-3 ; 
but  the  true  date  is  probably  a  few  years  earlier. 

U 


306  EARLY    GHBISTIANITT  AND    PAGANISM. 

whom  asks  contemptuously :  "  Being  a  digamist  dost  thou 
baptise  ?  Being  a  digamist  dost  thou  make  the  offering  ? " 
{De  Exhortatione   Casfitatis,  7). 

But  the  dispute  concerning  the  propriety  of  second  mar- 
riages for  the  clergy,  as  time  went  on,  was  submerged  in  the 
far  more  important  and  hotly  contested  question,  Was  marriage 
at  all  to  be  sanctioned  for  the  clergy  of  the  Catholic  Church  ? 

Outside  the  recognised  paramount  importance  of  the  need 
of  guarding  pure  and  unadulterated  the  great  fundamental 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  the  necessity  or  the  non-necessity  of 
insisting  on  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  has  perhaps  exercised 
the  minds  of  practical  theologians  more  than  any  other  question 
in  the  general  administration  of  the  Church.  From  the  early 
years  of  the  third  century,  down  to  our  own  day  and  time,  the 
question  has  agitated  and  disturbed  the  Church.  Since  the 
period  of  the  Reformation  the  Western  Church  has  been 
formally  divided  on  the  question.  In  the  Roman  Communion 
the  decision  of  the  Council  of  Trent  forbidding  sternly  all 
clerical  marriages  is  accepted.  In  the  Protestant  communities 
absolute  freedom  on  the  point  is  conceded.  Among  the  last- 
named  there  is,  besides,  no  rule,  written  or  implied,  existing 
on  the  subject  of  digamy  in  the  case  of  the  clergy. 

Hippolytus,  the  subject  of  our  present  study,  was  the  first 
(Tertullian  probably  writing  a  very  few  years  later)  who  for- 
mally inveighed  against  the  principle  of  clerical  marriages. 
His  words  are  very  strong.  "  Callistus,"  he  says,  "  ordered 
that  if  a  cleric  married  he  was  to  remain  among  the  clergy, 
just  as  if  he  had  com'mitted  no  offence."  During  the  previous 
century  and  a  half  nothing  formal  apparently  was  taught 
on  this  subject.  What  little  is  said  in  the  New  Testament 
distinctly  recognises  marriage  as  honourable  and  legal  for  all 
Christians  without  distinction,  for  the  office-bearer  in  the 
Church  as  well  as  for  the  ordinary  layman.  Alone  in  that 
mystic  passage  in  the  Apocalypse  (Rev.  xiv.  4)  does  any  hint 
appear  that  a  higher  excellence  in  the  case  of  celibates  was 
recognised  in  the  courts  of  heaven. 

In  the  early  Christian  writings  very  little  respecting  mar- 
riage appears,  and  when  any  reference  is  made  it  is  simply  to 


INNER   LIFE    OF    THE    GHUBGE.  307 

repeat  the  New  Testament  advice  (as  Hermas,  Gomm.  II.,  iv., 
1),  or  to  warn  men  not  to  boast  of  any  such  austere  way  of 
life  and  thus  to  exalt  themselves  above  others  (see  Ignatius  in 
his  letter  to  Poly  carp,  C.  5). 

Again  we  have  in  very  early  times  some  distinct  mentions 
of  bishops  and  presbyters  who  were  married,  e.g.  by  Polycarp 
(early  second  century),  by  Cyprian  (first  half  of  second 
century),  by  Eusebius,  quoting  from  what  happened  in  the 
Decian  persecution  (first  half  of  the  third  century),  and  in 
the  Diocletian  persecution  (some  half  century  later).  Clement 
of  Alexandria  besides  speaks  of  Peter  and  Philip,  the  Apostles, 
as  married."^  There  is,  however,  no  doubt  that  very  soon 
an  exaggerated  esteem  for  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  made 
its  appearance  in  the  Church.  This  undue  reverence  for 
the  unmarried  state  can  be  largely  traced  to  the  teaching 
of  the  Gnostics  in  the  second  century,  and  somewhat  later 
to  the  doctrines  of  the  Montanists.  Various  decrees  of  early 
Councils  opposed  or  attempted  to  mitigate  these  ascetic 
innovations.  Of  these,  the  action  of  the  Council  of  Nice, 
A.D.  325,  is  the  most  memorable.  But  in  spite  of  these 
attempts  to  relieve  the  clerg}''  of  the  heavy  burden  which 
the  sterner  and  more  ascetic  teachers,  such  as  Hippolytus 
and  Tertullian,  insisted  upon  imposing  upon  their  brethren, 
the  principle  of  clerical  celibacy  in  the  Western  Church 
steadily  gained  ground.  Again  and  again  in  all  countries 
in  the  West  ecclesiastical  history  is  never  weary  of  calling 
attention  to  the  frequent  revolts  and  numberless  evasions 
on  the  part  of  the  clergy  who  would  not  submit  to  the 
harsh  law  of  the  Church ;  but  revolt  and  evasion,  though 
repeated  a  hundred  times,  were  of  no  avail.  The  responsible 
heads  of  the  Church,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  followed 
the  lead  of  Hippolytus  and  Tertullian  ;  to  this  long  line  of 
noted  Church  leaders  all  through  the  Christian  centuries 
the  principle  of  clerical  celibacy  was  the  keystone  of  the 
Church's  influence  and  power.  The  ecclesiastical,  or,  as  it 
was  more  generally  termed,  the   sacerdotal,  order  must  know 

*  Bingham,  Chr.  Antiq.,  Book  IV.,  Chap.  V.,  Sees.  4  and  5,  enumerates 
various  examples  and  gives  the  references. 


3US  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

neither  nation  nor  family.  It  must  be  separated  from  all 
common  liuman  sympatliies,  interests,  affections.  It  must 
own  no  ties  or  obligations  save  those  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
It  was  a  grand,  even  a  magnificent,  conception,  but  to  those 
who  look  on  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Church  from  a  different 
standpoint  it  was  a  conception  erroneous  and  misleading. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  in  the  course  of 
the  great  revival  of  religion  which  belonged  to  that  period, 
the  principle  of  clerical  celibacy  was  most  positively  enforced 
under  the  authority  of  the  famous  Hildebrand  (Pope 
Gregory  VII.),  and  from  that  time  until  the  Reformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  Avas  sternly  and  rigidly  required  all 
through  the  Western  Churches.  In  the  East  this  principle 
of  clerical  celibacy  was  never  pressed  with  the  same  inflexible 
rigour,  and  to  this  da}^  while  forbidding  marriage  to  her 
bishops,  her  changeless  Church  allows  her  presbyters  to 
marry.'^ 

Another  of  Pope  Callistus'  actions  in  the  matter  of  Church 
discipline,  which  had  far-reaching  consequences,  was  strangely 
enough  vehemently  complained  of  and  opposed  by  Hippolytus. 
The  laws  of  the  Roman  Empire,  it  is  well  known,  placed  an 
insurmountable  barrier  between  freemen  and  slaves,  and  the 
marriage  laws  which  forbad  any  legal  union  between  a  free 
woman  and  a  slave  were  very  stringent.  Such  marriages, 
already  forbidden  by  the  Julian  and  Papian  law,  were  declared 
null  and  void  by  the  Emperors  Marcus  and  Commodus. 
Now  Callistus  granted  ecclesiastical  sanction  to  such  unions 
in  the  case  of  believers.  Hippolytus  argued  that  such  Church 
sanction,    that   such   a   cfrantingf   of  the    Church's   blessina:   to 

*  In  this  necessarily  brief  sketch  of  an  all-important  principle,  of  which 
Hippolytus  was  perhaps  the  first  official  exponent,  we  have  not  mentioned 
Monasticism,  which  in  the  West  did  not  make  its  appearance  lor  more  than 
a  century  and  a  quarter  after  Iiippol3'tus  had  passed  away,  being  somewhat 
earlier  in  its  development  in  the  East.  But  it  was  the  teaching  of  Monasticism, 
which  as  time  went  on  was  gradually  wrought  into  the  general  feeling,  lay 
and  clerical,  that  rendered  possible  the  enforcement  of  the  stern  law  of  celibacy 
upon  all  the  official  and  responsible  ministers  of  religion.  Jlonasticism,  it 
must  be  remembered,  admitted  almost  to  its  full  extent  the  Manichean  tenet 
(the  child  of  Gnosticism)  of  the  innate  sinfulness  of  all  sexual  intercourae  as 
partaking-  of  the  inextinguishable  impurity  of  Matter. 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    GHURCR.  309 

unequal  marria.i?es,  was  equivalent  to  an  invitation  to  un- 
chastity.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  by  what  reasoning 
the  o-reat  ascetic  teacher  came  to  such  a  conclusion.*  Its 
effect  really  was  in  some  measure  to  break  down  the  walls 
which  existed  between  slaves  and  free  persons  in  the  Empire. 
Henceforth  in  the  Roman  Empire  there  existed  a  vast  society 
in  whose  ever-increasing  ranks  freemen  and  slaves  were  to 
be  equals.  In  the  society  of  the  Christian  Church  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  offices  were  now  and  again  conferred  upon  slaves 
and  freed-men,  as  was  the  case  with  Callistus  himself. 

It  seems  from  Hippolytus'  language  that  Pope  Calhstus 
was  the  first,  certainly  the  first  among  Roman  bishops,  who 
ruled  that  the  Church's  blessing  might  be  given  to  these 
marriages  between  the  two  classes  of  slaves  and  free.  The 
moment  when  this  great  movement  in  the  direction  of  the 
overthrow  of  slavery  was  adopted  by  the  Church,  was  the 
time  of  quietness  which  set  in  after  Severus'  death,  when 
for  a  considerable  period  the  Church  was  comparatively  free 
from  persecution.  That  such  a  startling  innovation  upon 
the  ancient  marriage  customs  of  the  Empire  was  considered 
desirable  and  practical  by  the  rulers  of  the  Church  is  a 
striking  testimony  to  the  rapid  progress  of  the  new  religion 
in  all  ranks  of  Roman  society. 

It  is  from  Hippolytus'  Avritings  that  we  derive  our  know- 
ledge of  the  earliest  developments  of  the  Sabellian  and  Patri- 
passian  heresy,  a  heresy  which  grew  up  at  a  very  early  date 
in  the  heart  of  the  Catholic  Church.  In  some  of  the  writings 
of  the  earliest  Fathers,  notably  in  Ignatius,  we  come  upon 
expressions  dealing  with  the  Persons  of  the  ever  blessed 
Trinity  which  would  scarcely  have  been  used  in  the  clear- 
cut  definitions  of  the  theology  of  the  next  century,  the  age 
of  Councils,  by  men  like  Athanasius.  Some  of  these  expres- 
sions were  probably,  in  the  first  instance,  unduly  pressed,  and 
hence  the  strange  views  which  were  developed  into  what  is 
termed  Sabellian  or  Patripassian  teaching. 

*  It  is  possible  that  lie  feared  that,  where  the  State  recognised  no  validity 
in  the  union  and  no  legitimacj-  in  the  offspring,  there  would  he  a  perpetual 
inducement  to  set  at  naught  the  ecclesiastical  bond. 


310  EARLY    CniilSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

This  widespread  form  of  erroneous  doctrine  arose  in  the 
last  years  of  the  second  century.  Its  first  pubUc  teacher  was 
Noetus  of  Smyrna.  A  disciple  of  his,  one  Epigonus,  brought 
the  doctrine  of  Noetus  to  Rome  in  the  pontificate  of  Victor, 
A.D.  192-202.  Alongside  of  Epigonus,  Praxeas,  another  able 
teacher  of  the  same  school,  worked  for  a  time  in  the  metropolis. 
When  Zephyrinus  was  Pope,  a.d.  202-18,  Cleomenes,  the 
disciple  of  Epigonus,  was  looked  upon  as  the  chief  of  this 
school  of  thought  in  Rome;  with  Cleomenes  the  famous 
Sabellius  was  associated.  This  last  gave  his  name  to  the  sect 
of  Sabellians,  or  Patripassians  as  they  came  to  be  called. 
Sabellius  was  by  birth  a  Libyan  of  the  Pentapolis,  who  had 
taken  up  his  abode  in  Rome.  Hippolytus  gives  us  a  clear 
description  of  his  curious  doctrine.  Epiphanius,  who  died 
A.D.  403,  and  Theodoret,  who  died  a.d.  456,  both  of  whom 
also  discuss  it,  evidently  mainly  derived  their  knowledge  of 
this  heresy  from  the  great  Roman  theologian  of  whom  we 
are  speaking.  The  teaching  of  this  heretical  school  was  as 
follows  : 

"  The  one  supreme  God  is  originally,  or  in  so  far  as  He  is 
called  Father,  invisible,  passionless,  immortal,  uncreate ;  but 
on  the  other  side,  as  Son,  by  His  own  will  and  free  self- 
limitation,  He  became  man,  was  born  of  the  Virgin,  suffered 
and  died,  and  accordingly  is  called  '  Son '  only  for  a  certain 
time  and  only  in  reference  to  that  which  He  experienced  upon 
earth.  The  Son,  or  Christ,  is  therefore  the  Father  veiled  in 
the  flesh,  and  we  must  certainly  say  that  it  was  the  Father 
Himself  who  became  Man  and  suffered."^ 

Hippolytus  was  an  uncompromising  opponent  of  this 
Sabellian  teaching,  and  his  fervid  refutation  led  him  into  some 
extreme  and  somewhat  exaggerated  statements  which  enabled 
his  enemies,  who  were  many,  to  accuse  him  of  being  ditheistic  ; 
that  is  of  teaching  erroneously  that  alongside  God  there  was 
a  second  God  brought  into  existence,  viz.  the  Logos  or  Son. 
It  was  really  a  baseless  charge,  but  the  rancour  of  theological 
disputes,  even  at  that  early  date,  led  men  to  seek  out  and 
to  find  heresy  even  in  the   doctrine   of  the  Church's   noblest 

*  Compare  DoUinger,  Hippolytus  and  Callistus,  Chap.  IV.,  Sec.   1. 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    CEUBGH.  311 

teachers.  And,  indeed,  Hippolytus  courted  such  accusations 
by  the  bitterness  with  which  he  persistently  attacked  Popes 
Zephyrinus  and  Callistus,  whom  he  charged,  if  not  with  sharing, 
at  least  with  sympathising  with  the  errors  of  Sabellius. 

But  Pope  Callistus  we  know  excommunicated  Sabellius 
as  a  teacher  of  false  doctrine.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in 
these  early  disputes  the  Catholic  Church  was  on  the  side  of 
Callistus,  and  that  his  teaching  and  definitions  on  the  subject 
of  the  Divine  Personality  of  Christ,  in  preference  to  what  was 
advanced  by  Hippolytus,  were  maintained  in  the  influential 
Ptoman  communities.  Indeed,  from  Hippolytus'  own  work  it 
seems  that  the  teaching  of  Callistus  on  this  abstruse  subject 
avoided  two  errors,  that  of  Sabelhus  on  the  one  side,  who 
confuses  the  Father  with  the  Son,  and  the  exaggerated  ex- 
pressions of  Hippolytus  on  the  other,  who  while  combating 
the  heresy  of  Sabellius  occasionally  seems  to  suggest  separa- 
tion of  the  Logos  from  God.  It  will  be  useful,  however,  in 
this  little  account  of  an  early  theological  dispute  in  the 
Catholic  Church,  to  see  Avhat  was  the  doctrine  taught  by 
Popes  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus,  which  we  maintain  was  the 
doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  first  half  of  the  third 
century,  on  the  subject  of  the  Divine  Personality  of  the  second 
Person  of  the  Trinity.  Zephyrinus,  advised  by  Callistus,  came 
pubhcly  before  the  congregation  and  made  this  confession  of 
faith,  "  I  know  but  one  God,  Jesus  Christ,  and  besides  Him 
I  know  no  one  that  was  born  and  has  suffered."  About  fifty 
years  later  the  confession  of  Pionius  and  the  martyrs  of 
Smyrna  in  the  Decian  persecution  (circa  a.d.  250)  was  to 
the  same  effect.  We  will  give  the  words  of  these  famous 
confessors  from  the  "  Acts "  of  their  martyrdom."^  Pionius 
and  his  companions  being  asked,  "  Whom  do  you  worship  as 
God  ? "  replied,  "  The  omnipotent  God  who  made  heaven  and 
earth,  and  all  that  they  contain,  whom  we  know  through 
His  Word  Jesus  Christ."  Then  when  Asclepiades,  one  of 
Pionius'  companions,  was  interrogated,  "  Whom  do  jou  worship 

*  The  "  Acts  "  of  Pionius  of  Smyrna,  and  his  companions,  circa  a.d.  250,  is 
considered  an  historical  document  of  the  highest  value.  (So  Bishop  Lightfoot  and 
Allaid.) 


312  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

as  God  ? "  lie  answered,  "  Christ."  The  judge  then  said, 
"  What,  then,  is  that  another  ? "  "  No,"  said  Asclepiades,  "  It 
is  the  same  whom  they  (his  companions)  had  confessed  a 
little  while  before."  When  they  were  interrogated  again  at 
the  altar  of  the  heathen  deities  and  again  confessed  that  they 
believed  in  the  God  who  made  the  world,  the  judges  asked, 
"  Are  you  speaking  of  Him  who  was  crucified  ? "  Pionius 
replied,  "  I  speak  of  Him  whom  the  Father  sent  for  the  salva- 
tion of  the  world." 

It  was  thus  that  the  Church  of  Rome  which,  to  use 
Dollinger's  words,  "by  its  superior  grandeur,  antiquity,  and 
dignity  formed  the  centre  of  the  whole  Christian  world,  to 
which  all  directed  their  e^'es,  with  which  all  held  com- 
munion and  intercourse,"  Avithout,  however,  asserting*  any 
special  claim  to  enforce  obedience  from  other  Churches,  slowly 
formulated  the  great  doctrinal  definitions  of  the  Divine 
Personality  of  Christ,  which  in  the  next  century,  the  age  of 
great  councils,  were  expressed  in  the  great  Catholic  creeds 
and  expounded  in  treatises  by  Catholic  theologians  such  as 
Athanasius. 

To  sum  up,  Hippolytus,  the  learned  Roman  theologian, 
in  the  first  instance,  argued  against  and  combated  the 
Sabellian  errors.  In  his  zeal  to  refute  what  was  undoubtedly 
false  teaching  he  went  into  the  other  extreme,  and  the  Popes 
Zephyrinus  and  Callistus,  viewing  his  definitions  as  dangerous, 
corrected  them ;  and  their  exposition  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Divine  Personality  of  the  Son,  adopted  by  the  Roman  Church, 
was  virtually  identical  with  the  language  used  by  prominent 
martyrs  of  the  Faith,  such  as  Pionius  of  Smyrna  and  his 
companions  about  fifty  years  later. 

The  comparative  reticence  we  have  before  noticed  in  early 
Christian  theology  in  the  matter  of  the  Divine  Personality  of 
the  Third  Person  of  the  Blessed  Trinity  is  very  marked  in 
the  works  of  Hippolytus.  This  great  scholar  and  divine,  who 
taught  in  Rome  roughly  from  a.d.  190-230,  gives  to  this 
article   of  faith  exactly   the   same   kind   of    testimony  as    did 

*  The  haughty  claim  of  Stephen,  Bishop  of  Rome,  to  a  general  snpremacy  in 
his  controversy  with  Cyprian  of  Carthage,  was  advanced  ahout  half  a  century  later. 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    CHURCH.  313 

the  3''et  earlier  Christian  writers.  They  bear  witness  to  its 
truth,  but  at  the  same  time  they  dwell  but  little  upon  it. 
Now  Hippolytus  has  been  charged  by  students  of  his  earlier 
long-known  writings  with  ascribing  no  Personality  to  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  and  the  newly  discovered  great  work  we  have  been 
speaking  of  apparently  bears  out  this  contention,  for  no 
mention  of  the  Holy  Spirit  occurs  in  the  summary  of  doctrine 
in  his  Tenth  Book.  Still  that  Hippolytus  did  hold  and 
teach  the  Divine  Personality  of  the  Third  Person  is  clear 
from  a  passage  in  his  treatise  against  Noetus  of  Smyrna,  one 
of  the  reputed  founders  of  the  Patripassian  heresy.  These 
words  are  clear  and  most  definite,  and  run  as  follows :  "  By 
means  of  the  incarnate  Logos  we  recognise  the  Father,  we 
believe  in  the  Son,  and  we  adore  the  Holy  Ghost."  And 
again  he  writes :  "  The  Father  has  put  all  things  under 
Christ,  excepting  Himself  and  the  Holy  Spirit." 

SECTION    II. — CARTHAGE:    TERTULLIAN. 

Thanks  to  the  discovery  of  the  writing  of  Hippolytus,  we 
have  learned  much  of  the  inner  life  and  activities  of  the 
Church  in  the  Metropolis  of  the  Empire  circa  a.d.  200-225. 
We  possess  for  the  same  time  ample  testimony  to  the  influence 
and  work  of  Christianity  in  another  part  of  the  Empire  in 
the  teaching  of  a  powerful  Christian  Avriter  of  the  great 
province  of  pro-consular  Africa. 

At  this  period  internal  dissensions  and  controversies,  similar 
to  those  which,  as  we  have  learned  from  Hippolytus,  were  then 
aoitatinof  the  con^reofations  of  Rome  and  central  Italy,  were  also 
disturbing  the  peace  of  the  Carthaginian  and  North  African 
communities. 

There  were  evidently  in  the  teeming,  busy  Christian  life 
of  the  early  years  of  the  third  century  two  parties  fiercely 
contending  for  their  own  special  views  of  government,  of 
organisation,  and  of  discipline — Rome  and  Carthage,  those 
great  centres  of  population,  being  no  doubt  representative 
Churches.  What  was  going  on  in  these  capitals  of  Italy  and 
North  Africa,  on  a  smaller  scale  was  going  on  in  Lyons  and 


314  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

Ephesus,  in  Antioch  and  Alexandria.  We  will  here  speak  in 
some  detail  of  Tertullian's  evidence,  not  only  ample  and 
varied,  but  provided  by  a  great  scholar  and  a  conspicuously 
earnest  and  able  man.  When  we  have  summarised  some  of 
his  testimony  we  will  endeavour  to  show  how  it  came  about 
that  these  grave  disputes  on  Christian  disciphne  and  organisa- 
tion arose  at  this  particular  juncture. 

Tertullian  has  been  accurately  described  as  the  contem- 
porary of  Hippolytus.  Born  somewhere  about  the  middle 
of  the  second  century  in  North  Africa,  in  his  early  years 
he  was  trained  as  a  Pagan,  and  for  some  time  appears  to 
have  been  active  and  even  conspicuous  as  a  jurist  at  Rome. 
The  date  of  his  conversion  to  Christianity  is  uncertain.  But 
it  seems  probable  that  the  turning  point  in  his  career  can 
be  dated  between  a.d.  190  and  195.  In  a.d.  197  we  find 
him  settled  at  Carthage,  where  he  became  a  presbyter  of 
the  Church.  His  literary  activity  as  a  Christian  writer  and 
teacher  lay  mainly  between  a.d.  197  and  a.d.  230  or  there- 
abouts. In  A.D.  202-3  he  became  persuaded  that  the  Mon- 
tanistic  preaching  in  Phrygia  was  the  work  of  God,  and  from 
this  date  more  or  less  his  teaching  and  writings  were  coloured 
with  some  of  the  Montanistic  errors.  His  strong  bias  in 
favour  of  an  extreme  asceticism  to  be  observed  by  earnest 
Christians  no  doubt  largely  influenced  his  subsequent  ad- 
vocacy of  those  Montanistic  doctrines  whose  austerity  was 
their  central  feature. 

He  was  a  writer  of  rare  originahty  and  genius,  a  keen 
observer,  a  vivid  word-painter,  but  often  passionate  and 
exaggerated  in  his  exhortations  and  rebukes.  He  ranks 
among  Christian  scholars  as  a  profound  scholar  and  thinker, 
an  indefatigable  and  laborious  student,  gifted  with  splendid 
eloquence  and  intense  earnestness.  It  may  well  be  conceived 
that,  in  spite  of  his  grave  errors  and  mistakes,  his  influence 
upon  the  Church  life  of  his  day  and  time  was  enormous. 
His  style  has  been  picturesquely  described,  and  with  some 
justice,  as  "Dark  and  resplendent  as  ebony";  and  "in  some 
respects,"  it  is  added,  "  his  life  and  work  had  something  in 
common  with  that  of  the  Apostle  S.  Paul." 


INNER    LIFE    OF    TEE    GHUBGH.  315 

Evidently  the  same  feeling  was  working  in  Tertullian  at 
Carthage  as  actuated  Hippolytus  in  Rome;  a  persuasion  that 
the  Church  in  the  persons  of  its  responsible  leaders  had  left 
its  first  love,  and  was  sanctioning  a  more  lax  and  easy  way 
of  living  than  had  been  set  forth  as  the  pattern  hfe  by  the 
Apostles  and  the  teachers  of  the  first  hundred  years  of  the 
existence  of  Christianity  as  a  religion  and  a  life. 

Many  of  the  very  same  innovations  in  discipline  and 
conduct  which  Hippolytus  tells  us  had  been  introduced  in 
the  course  of  the  pontificate  of  Zephyrinus  at  Rome  under 
the  influence  of  his  adviser  Callistus,  Ave  find  more  or  less 
dwelt  upon,  only  with  increased  elaboration  of  detail,  by  the 
Carthaginian  teacher. 

But  it  is  the  hard  and  austere  way  of  life  which  Tertullian 
and  his  school  prescribed  as  the  only  way  which  a  Christian 
ought  to  tread  which  especially  calls  for  mention  here.  The 
aspect  of  Christian  society  was  very  different  when  Tertullian 
and  Hippolytus  taught  to  what  it  had  been  a  hundred  years 
before  when  Ignatius  lived  and  suffered,  when  a  Polycarp 
ruled  the  Church  in  Smyrna,  and  an  Irenoeus  as  a  young 
man  listened  to  his  words. 

The  Christian  communities  in  important  cities  were  no 
longer  largely  made  up  of  the  poor  or  small  traders,  of 
freed-men  and  of  slaves,  with  a  sprinkling  of  the  nobility, 
and  mth  perhaps  here  and  there  a  wealthy  patrician  and  a 
senator.  Such  humble  folk  could  well  busy  themselves  in 
their  modest  avocations,  could  live  as  it  were  in  retirement, 
could  separate  themselves  from  pubhc  rejoicings  in  which 
idolatrous  ceremonies  were  largely  mixed  up,  could  keep 
aloof  from  municipal  and  public  affairs.  But  as  the  second 
century  wore  on  the  communities  began  to  include  in  their 
roll  of  members  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest.  Tertullian's  own  memorable  statement, 
already  quoted,  was  no  mere  piece  of  rhetoric,  but  told  a 
plain  fact.  "  We  (Christians)  fill  the  cities,  the  houses,  the 
fortresses  .  .  .  the  Senate  and  the  Forum,  the  palace  of 
the  Prince,  we  are  found  among  the  municipalities,  among  the 
civil  servants  of  the  State,  in  the  very  camps  of  the  armies." 


316  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Xew  ideals  must  surely  be  set  forth,  new  rules  for  tlie 
Christian  life,  a  different-  code  of  restrictions  must  be  laid 
down,  for  such  a  wide-spread  society  as  that  which  Tertullian 
so  vividly  portrayed.  What  were  all  these  Christians  to  do 
amidst  such  environments  ?  How  were  they  to  conduct 
themselves  in  the  Senate,  in  the  palace  of  the  Caesars,  in  the 
Forum  where  laws  were  administered,  in  the  municipal  councils 
where  the  affairs  of  the  City  were  discussed  and  arranged  ? 

It  was  especially  in  all  public  and  municipal  business,  so 
largely  and  generally  shared  in  by  the  Romans  of  the  Empire 
in  the  provincial  cities  as  well  as  in  the  metropolis,  that  these 
difficult  questions  came  painfully  to  the  front.  It  was  in 
all  the  acts  of  official  life  that  the  Christian  was  so  sorely 
tried.  The  old  Roman  religion  was  apparently  inextricably 
mixed  up  with  public  business,  and  Roman  religion  of  course 
meant  idolatry.  The  magistrates  were  perpetually  bound  to 
offer  sacrifices,  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  invisible  gods,  to  be 
present  at  ceremonies  in  which  the  worship  of  the  genius 
of  the  Emperor  and  one  or  other  of  the  national  deities 
formed  a  regular  and  necessary  part  of  the  ceremonial.  And 
the  revival  of  Paganism  under  the  Empire,  dating  from  the 
days  of  the  great  Augustus,  accentuated  this  idol-worship, 
this  perpetual  association  of  religious  ceremonies  with  all  state 
and  official  proceedings.  In  the  second  century  Christians 
largely  stood  aloof  for  these  reasons  from  all  public  duties 
and  all  public  services. 

We  have  seen  already  how  conspicuously  loyal  to  the 
Emperor  and  the  Government  were  the  followers  of  Jesus. 
By  word  and  act  they  were  the  most  obedient,  the  most 
submissive  of  subjects.  They  prayed  constantly  for  the 
Ca3sar,  in  the  closet  as  in  their  assemblies  for  divine  worship ; 
they  obeyed  without  murmur  the  regulations  and  ordinances 
of  his  government.  They  were  never  numbered  among  the 
frequent  turbulent  disturbers  of  the  established  rule;  indeed 
they  regarded  the  majesty  of  the  Empire  as  the  surest 
earthly  guarantee  of  public  peace  and  security.  In  the 
frequent  revolts  in  the  provinces  no  Christian  ever  took 
part.       Among    the   followers    of    the    various    pretenders    to 


INNER    LIFE    OF   THE    CHURCH.  317 

Imperial  rank  who  from  time  to  time  arose  in  diiferent 
parts  of  the  Empire  no  Christian  was  ever  found. 
In  the  authentic  proces  verbaux  of  the  trials .  of  accused 
Christians,  in  the  Acts  and  Passions  of  the  Martyrs  which 
are  accepted  as  genuine  and  undoubted  pieces,  very  rarely 
if  ever  is  a  disloyal  word  reported  to  have  been  uttered  by 
the  Christian  sufferers  in  the  course  of  the  harsh  and  often 
cruel  interrogatory.  Only  one  charge  which  seemed  to  touch 
the  fringe  of  disloyalty  to  the  State  could  not  be  answered. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  followers  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
for  a  considerable  period  shrank  from  any  sharing  in  public 
duties,  Imperial  and  municipal.  This  abstention  was  a  well- 
known  accusation  often  thrown  in  the  teeth  of  the  Christian 
Romans,  and  one  that  could  not  be  easily  refuted.  They 
were  reproached  with  being  a  useless  folk,  taking  no  part 
nor  share  in  any  public  business.  How  could  they — as 
such  a  sharing  involved  idolatry  in  a  hundred  forms !  It 
was  a  common  term  used  for  them,  "  the  useless  folk,"  an 
ingenious  play  upon  their  name  of  Christian  d)(^p'no-Toi,  (Achrestoi) 
or  the  Useless  Ones. 

And  as  time  went  on  the  grave  difficulty  increased  with 
their  numbers,  and  the  higher  social  position  of  the  converts. 
As  the  third  century  dawned  a  climax  was  reached,  and  the 
chiefs  of  the  Christian  sect  had  to  face  and  to  solve  a  formid- 
able problem. 

Two  parties  seemed  to  have  been  formed,  each  adopting 
a  different  policy,  the  one  endeavouring  to  make  it  easier 
for  the  follower  of  Jesus  to  bear  his  part  in  the  ordinary 
life  of  a  citizen,  the  other  uncompromising,  stern,  harsh, 
refusing  to  make  any  allowances,  rigidly  rejecting  any  idea 
of  compromise.  Men  like  Zephyrinus,  the  Bishop  of  Rome, 
A.D.  202-219,  and  Callistus,  his  minister  and  subsequently  his 
successor,  a.d.  219-223,  seem  to  have  represented  the  party 
of  moderation  and  compromise.  Hippolytus  of  Rome  and 
Tertullian  of  Carthage  are  types  of  the  more  stern  and  unbending 
teachers,  who  pressed  upon  Christians  the  duty  of  a  complete 
and  total  separation  from  the  ways  and  pursuits  of  ordinary 
public  and  civic  life. 


318  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

We  liave  spoken  of  Hippolytus.  From  TertuUian,  how- 
ever, we  can  gather  still  more  of  the  teaching  of  these 
uncompromising  and  in  many  respects  unpractical  Christians. 
He  deals  with  well-nigh  all  classes  of  citizens  and  their  occu- 
pations, dwelling  with  some  detail  upon  arts  and  crafts. 
Especially  in  his  treatise  on  "  Idolatry,"  he  naturally  inveighs 
against  the  artists  who  fashioned  the  idols.  But  in  his 
invective  he  travels  beyond  the  mere  fabrication  of  the 
images  directly  designed  for  w^orship  in  the  temples  and 
shrines,  and  condemns  all  the  ornaments  and  adornments 
intended  for  the  houses  of  the  rich,  if  in  any  way  they  were 
connected  with  the  stories  and  legends  of  the  gods.  The 
artists  and  architects,  the  very  workmen  in  their  service,  are 
all  included  in  his  sweeping  condemnation.  No  true  Christian 
could  be  included  in  their  numerous  class,  for  fear  lest  any  of 
their  handiwork  should  be  connected  with  subjects  bearing 
upon  the  popular  idolatrous  mythology  of  the  Empire.  But 
the  stern  purist,  not  content  with  his  charge  to  avoid  the 
popular  arts  and  crafts,  condemns  all  commerce,  all  trading, 
based  as  he  conceived  it  to  be  upon  greed  and  covetousness. 
He  goes  further  still  in  his  rigorous  catalogue  of  unlawful 
ways  of  life.  The  office  of  a  teacher  in  a  public  school  is 
one  that  no  Christian  ought  to  hold.  Such  a  teacher  in  the 
course  of  his  instruction  will  be  compelled  to  expound  to 
the  young  the  fables  of  the  gods  of  Rome,  the  attributes  of  the 
deities,  their  genealogies,  and  their  supposed  powers.  Curiously 
enough  in  another  writing  he  suffers  the  young  to  frequent 
these  public  schools,  though  he  forbids  the  Christian  to  take 
any  part  in  the  instruction  supplied  there. 

On  the  question  of  amusements  he  is  most  severe.  The 
passion  of  the  Roman  of  the  Empire  for  games  is  well  known. 
The  theatre,  the  circus,  the  gladiatorial  games,  entered  into 
the  life  of  all  classes  and  orders.  No  follower  of  Jesus  must 
be  seen  at  any  such  exhibition.  All  are  alike  forbidden. 
In  the  tract  De  Sjyectaculis  he  tells  with  great  force  the 
story  of  an  exorcist  commanding  an  unclean  spirit  to  quit 
the  body  of  a  believer,  and  asking  the  demon  how  he  dared 
enter   into   the  body   of  a   servant   of  God.      The   evil    spirit 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    GEUBGR.  319 

replied,  "  I  found  the  servant  of  God  in  my  own  home,"  i.e. 
in  the  theatre. 

A  3^et  graver  point  was  decided  by  this  representative 
teacher  of  the  purist  Christian  school  of  the  early  years 
of  the  third  century.  He  discusses  whether  it  were  possible 
for  a  Christian  man  to  undertake  any  public  function  or 
office  connected  with  the  State,  and  replies :  "  Yes,  it  would 
be  possible  to  accept  a  magistracy  if  this  could  be  done 
without  offering  sacrifices,  or  having  anything  to  do  with  the 
temples  of  the  gods ;  such  a  position  might  be  accepted  if  it 
did  not  besides  involve  condemning  accused  citizens  to  prison 
and  to  torture."  On  the  whole  TertuUian  emphatically  decided 
against  the  possibility  of  a  true  Christian  assuming  the  responsi- 
bilities of  a  public  functionary."^ 

Among  the  stern  precepts  put  out  by  the  extreme  school, 
of  which  we  are  speaking,  among  these  forbidden  ways  of 
life  so  eloquently  denounced  by  the  great  master  Tertulhan, 
it  will  be  especially  interesting  to  see  what  he  says  of  the 
soldier's  career.  Could  a  Christian  serve  in  the  army  of  which 
Rome  was  so  proud,  whose  splendid  successes  had  won  her 
the  sovereignty  of  the  largest  part  of  the  then  known  world, 
whose  discipline  and  courage  continued  to  expand  and  protect 
her  enormous  frontiers  ?  Here,  again,  Tertullian's  warning 
words  addressed  to  that  influential  section  of  the  Church  of 
which  he  was  the  most  distinguished  teacher,  incidentally  tell 
us  how  widespread  was  the  Christian  sect  at  the  beginning 
of  the  third  century.  The  Roman  army,  circa  a.d.  200,  was 
full  of  Christians,  "  We  are  of  yesterday,  and  we  have  filled 
,  .  .  your  camps."  "Along  with  you  we  fight"  {AjmI. 
37,  42).  The  opening  section  of  the  famous  treatise  De 
Corona  incidentally  implies  how  very  numerous  were  the 
Christian  soldiers  serving  in  the  third  or  Augustan  Legion. 

Were  all  these  Christian  soldiers  of  Rome  in  the  wrong  ? 
Was  mihtary  duty  incompatible  with  the  Christian  profession  ? 
TertuUian    decides   that   such  a  wa}^  of  life  was  wrong  for   a 

*  This  is  well  summed  up  in  his  -woids  :  "  Nobis  nulla  res  magis  aliena  quam 
publica  "  ("  There  is  nothing  that  can  be  conceived  more  alien  to  a  Christian  than 
being  involved  in  public  duties  "). — Apologia,  38. 


320  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Christian ;  but  his  words  here  are  less  violent  than  the  ex- 
pressions he  uses  when  he  inveighs  against  other  pursuits 
which  he  considered  were  unlawful  for  the  followers  of  Jesus. 
"  Shall  it,"  he  says,  "  be  held  lawful  to  make  an  occupation 
of  the  sword,  when  the  Lord  proclaimed  that  he  who  uses 
the  sword  shall  perish  by  the  sword  ?  And  shall  the  son  of 
peace  take  part  in  the  battle  when  it  does  not  become  him 
even  to  sue  at  law?"  (De  Gorcmd,  11). 

But  here  again  the  opinion  of  the  Catholic  Church  was 
against  the  rigorous  school  whose  opinions  Tertullian  voiced. 
As  a  whole  the  Church  of  the  third  century  leaned  upon  the 
temperate  words  of  John  the  Baptist,  speaking  to  the  soldiers 
of  Rome  (S.  Luke  iii.  14).  It  referred  to  the  favourable 
judgment  passed  upon  the  centurions  of  the  great  army  (S. 
Luke  vii.  1,  10,  and  Acts,  Chapter  x.),  and  it  remembered 
the  general  kindly  mentions  of  soldiers  in  the  Gospels  and 
Acts,  and  so  never  discouraged  Christian  men  from  following  the 
standards  of  the  Empire. 

In  times  of  persecution  Tertullian  expresses  very  strongly 
what  in  the  eyes  of  his  school  was  the  duty  of  Christians — 
anything  lilve  evasion,  concealment  or  flight  he  considered 
argued  culpable  weakness.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  policy 
of  the  Church  largely  discouraged  everything  which  could  be 
construed  as  bravado,  or  useless  exposure  on  the  part  of 
believers.  Indeed,  in  certain  cases  money  was  given  by  in- 
dividuals to  the  police  authorities  with  a  view  of  staying  per- 
secutions. Such  acts  were  most  strongly  deprecated  and  con- 
demned by  Tertullian's  school,  to  whoin,  indeed,  martyrdom 
was  rather  to  be  courted  than  shunned. 

Thus  complete  separation  on  the  part  of  the  Christian 
communities  was  urgently  pressed  by  the  extreme  school  of 
Christian  thought.  To  carry  into  effect  their  rigorous  precepts 
everything  must  be  given  up ;  if  necessary,  poverty  must  be 
accepted,  rank  and  position  forfeited.  Even  the  customar}^ 
public  courtesies  must  be  abandoned ;  when,  for  instance,  a 
frontier  victory  of  the  Emperor  and  the  army,  in  one  of  the 
perpetual  wars  which  were  being  waged  by  the  Empire,  was 
announced  in  Rome  or  in  a  provincial  city,  it  was  the  custom 


IlSfNEB    LIFE    OF    THE    CHUBGH.  321 

to  illuminate  and  to  adorn  tlie  houses  with  flowers.  No  Chris- 
tian must  share  in  this  seemingly  innocent  courtesy  to  the 
Sovereign  and  his  legionaries,  for  such  simple  rejoicings  would 
seem  to  imply  a  homage  to  the  gods  of  Rome,  Thus  the  gulf 
between  the  Christian  subject  of  Rome  and  the  ordinary 
citizen  would  be  constantly  widened,  and  the  ill-feeling  with 
which  the  votaries  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  were  generally 
regarded  among  the  populace  would  be  constantly  deepened. 

Counsels  of  moderation,  such  as  S.  Paul  gave  in  such 
writings  as  1  Cor.  viii.,  were  explained  away.  Examples  such 
as  Daniel  and  Joseph  in  the  Old  Testament  history,  who  lived 
without  giving  offence  in  a  court  where  idol-rites  formed  part 
of  the  State  ceremonies,  were  set  aside.  The  separation  must 
be  complete. 

In  the  family  life,  in  public  life,  in  trade  and  commerce, 
no  modus  vivendi  was  possible  in  the  eyes  of  this  stern  and 
rigorous  school,  which  asserted  itself  so  powerfully  in  the 
early  years  of  the  third  century.  "Fast,"  wrote  the  great 
rhetorician  in  his  fiery  zeal,  "  because  fasting  will  train  your 
body  for  martyrdom,  your  skin  will  be  strengthened  to  bear 
the  iron  nails ;  when  your  blood  is  well-nigh  exhausted  you 
will  bleed  the  less  beneath  the  scourge."  "Dread,"  so  he 
apostrophised  the  Christian  women,  "  marriage  and  maternity  ; 
how  will  children  profit  you,  since  you  must  leave  them  as 
you  go  to  the  executioner,  since  their  longing  and  your  prayer 
must  be  that  God  should  take  them  soon  to  Himself  ? "  And 
again,  "Accustom  your  limbs  rather  to  fetters  than  to  brace- 
lets of  gold :  on  that  neck  of  yours  now  encircled  with  chains 
of  pearls  and  emeralds,  leave  a  spot  where  the  sword  of  the 
lictor  can  fall.  The  age  for  Christians  is  no  golden  age. 
The  robes  which  the  angels  are  bringing  you,  remember,  are 
the  robes  of  martyrdom."  ^  Life,  in  the  eyes  of  these  grave 
ascetic  teachers,  was  coloured  b}'  the  thought  of  a  bitter  per- 
secution ever  close  at  hand.  And  persecution  to  these  zealots 
seemed  always  to  be  desired  rather  than  to  be  dreaded. 

*  See  the  treatises  of  TertuUian,  iJe  Jejuni s,  12  ;  and  Ad  Uxorem,   1,  6  ;  Be 
Cultu  Feminarmn,  11,  13.     In  these  quotations  the  jmraphrase  of  Champagny  (Ze« 
Antonins,  viii.)  has  been  mainly  followed. 
V 


322  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

But  wiser  and  more  temperate  counsels  on  tlie  whole  pre- 
vailed in  the  Church.  At  Rome  the  policy  of  the  community, 
guided  by  such  bishops  and  teachers  as  Zephyrinus  and 
Callistus,  tended  to  bridge  over  the  chasm  which  yawned 
between  the  Christians  and  the  Empire ;  and  the  circumstances 
of  the  time  which  we  shall  presently  consider,  aided  them  in 
their  endeavours.  The  policy  of  the  rigorous  school  of  such 
earnest  and  devoted  though  fanatical  men  as  Hippolytus  and 
Tertullian  found  no  place  in  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  A  little  later,  but  before  the  middle  of  the  century 
(the  third),  we  find  such  a  great  and  revered  bishop  as  Cyprian 
of  Carthage  even  withdrawing  himself  for  a  season  from  the 
scene  of  danger;  although  when  he  judged  that  the  time 
was  come  when  an  example  of  fearless  courage  was  needed, 
he  returned  to  his  post  of  danger  and  duty,  in  the  full 
consciousness  that  such  a  return  in  his  case  involved  certain 
death. 

And  it  will  be  seen  on  careful  examination  that  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  time  were  peculiarly  favourable  for  the 
development  of  the  policy  of  the  moderate  Christian  leaders 
who  in  good  earnest  sought  for  a  possible  modus  vivendi  for 
Christians  in  the  Empire ;  for  the  party  of  common  sense  who 
longed  for  an  opportunity  of  doing  their  duty  to  the  State  as 
well  as  to  God.  These  teachers  wished  to  see  their  flock  good 
patriots  as  well  as  good  Christians.  No  fundamental  principle, 
of  course,  must  be  given  up,  no  real  concession  to  idolatry 
must  be  made ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  no  rash  protests  must 
be  advanced,  no  impossible  exclusiveness  must  be  claimed. 
Where  it  was  possible,  the  common  life  of  ordinary  citizens 
must  be  shared  in,  and  the  common  duties  of  citizenship  must 
be  discharged  by  the  followers  of  the  Crucified. 

For  the  first  and  second  centuries  such  a  rule  of  life  was 
impossible.  During  this  period  a  well-nigh  ceaseless  perse- 
cution of  Christians  was  maintained  by  the  Government.  Up 
to  the  time  of  Nero  the  Church  grew  up  in  silence  and  in 
profound  obscurity.  From  a.d.  64,  the  date  of  the  cruel  Neronic 
persecution,  for  well-nigh  one  hundred  and  thirty  years,  the 
attitude  of  the  Government  towards  the  Christian  was  one  of 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    GUUBGH.  323 

persistent  hostility.  During  these  years  there  was  never  any 
real  cessation  of  persecution.  In  some  part  or  other  of  the 
Empire  it  was  ever  raging ;  over  the  votaries  of  the  proscribed 
religion  the  sword  was  ever  hanging  suspended.  The  first 
considerable  interval  of  general  stillness  was  enjoyed  by 
Christians  from  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Commodus  to  the 
middle  of  the  reign  of  Severus,  roughly  from  a.d.  186  to 
A.D.  202,  some  sixteen  years.  Then  in  a.d.  202  bitter  perse- 
cution began  again,  raging  for  some  nine  years,  more  or  less 
m  all  parts  of  the  Empire.  When  Severus  died  in  a.d.  211, 
a  long  time  of  stillness  set  in,  and  for  some  twenty-four  years 
the  Christians  enjoyed  general  immunity  from  all  harrying ; 
indeed,  they  were  treated  even  with  favour.  Then  the  Emperor 
Maximinus  reigned  between  two  and  three  years,  which  were 
agam  a  period  of  unrest  and  persecution.  Then  after  another 
twelve  years  of  stillness  a  terrible  reaction  set  in — the  reaction 
which  Christian  annalists  paint  in  lurid  characters  under  the 
well-known  name  of  the  Decian  persecution.  Decius  was 
Emperor  from  a.d.  249  to  a.d.  251.  This  resumS  of  the  periods 
alternating  between  persecution  and  stillness  brings  us  to  the 
middle  of  the  third  century. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  between  a.d.  186  and  a.d.  249  the 
Christians  Hved  for  well-nigh  fifty-two  out  of  those  sixty-three 
years  comparatively  unmolested ;  often,  indeed,  as  we  have  said 
looked  upon  with  some  favour.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the 
first  Severus  (a.d.  193-211)  there  were  Christians  not  only  in 
the  Imperial  palace,  but  also  in  the  Senate;  and  during  the 
reign  of  Alexander  Severus  (a.d.  222-235)  the  Imperial  house- 
hold was  largely  composed  of  Christians.  The  instructions  of 
the  great  Alexandrian  teacher  Origen  were  welcomed  by 
persons  of  the  highest  importance  in  Rome  as  in  the  provinces. 
The  Emperor  Philip  (a.d.  244-249)  was  even  said  to  have  been 
baptised  into  the  Faith,  and  in  these  quiet  years  many  pubHc 
functionaries  were  openly  Christians. 

Encouraged  by  these  periods  of  quiet,  periods  which  now 
and  again  showed  signs  of  even  something  more  than  toleration, 
the  responsible  leaders  of  the  Cathohc  Church,  seeing  in  this 
changed   aspect   of  pubhc   feeling   towards   Christianity    "  the 


324  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM 

finger  of  God"*  sought  how  they  could  in  lawful  matters 
promote  the  growth  of  this  kindlier  disposition  towards  them 
displayed  by  the  State. 

Severus  (a.d.  193-211),  some  time  before  the  close  of  the 
second  century,  published  a  law  enabling  the  Jews  to  hold 
the  office  of  decurion  without  taking  part  in  any  of  those 
sacred  functions  which  belonged  to  the  ceremonial  department 
of  the  municipal  office  in  question  if  such  sacred  functions 
were  repugnant  to  the  principles  of  their  Faith.  Now  there  is  no 
certain  proof,  it  is  true,  of  the  promulgation  of  a  law  setting  forth 
such  a  formal  exemption  in  the  case  of  the  Christians,  but  it 
is  clear  that  such  an  exemption  practically  did  tacitly  exist, 
and  that  in  the  third  century,  in  such  periods  of  marked  still- 
ness as  characterised  the  reigns  of  Alexander  Severus  and  of 
Philip,  and  the  earlier  years  of  the  Emperor  Valerian,  the 
Christian  believers  might  hold  offices  connected  with  the 
Imperial  court,  or  occupy  magistracies  and  appointments 
belonging  to  municipalities,  without  being  compelled  to  share 
in  any  public  function  of  an  idolatrous  character.  It  must 
be  remembered,  moreover,  that  these  periods  of  stillness  for 
the  Christian  population  of  the  Empire  occupied  considerably 
more  than  half  of  the  third  century.  Origen's  f  testimony  is 
very  decisive  here  when  he  speaks  of  Christians  not  avoiding 
or  shirking  the  common  public  duties  of  life.  TertuUian's 
words  recently  quoted,  although  rhetorical,  are  to  the  same 
effect. 

But  the  third  century  was  no  golden  age  for  Christians, 
although  they  enjoyed  long  periods  of  comparative  immunity 
from  harassing  persecution.  We  have  already  computed 
that  during  at  least  twenty-five  years  bitter  persecution  raged. 
This  was  continued,  though  not  throughout  the  whole  Empire, 
during  some  ten  or  eleven  years  of  the  fourth  century,  while 
the  final  period  of  the  war  of  Paganism  against  its  victorious 
adversary,!  which  lasted  some  fourteen  or   fifteen   3^ears,  and 

*  "  Origen,  for  instance,  refers  to  these  periods  of  cessation  of  all  persecution 
as  owing  to  the  direct  interjjosition  of  God  (Contra  Celsum,  iii.  viii.) ;  God  thus 
preventing  the  utter  destruction  of  the  Christian  people. 

f  Origen's  Contra  Celsum,  viii.  75. 

X  In  the  earlier  yeai'S  the  persecution  was  mainly  confined  to  the  army. 


INNEB   LIFE    OF    THE    CHURCH.  325 

is  generally  known  as  tlie  Diocletian  persecution,  claimed 
perhaps  more  victims  than  had  any  of  the  previous  onslaughts. 
It  was  the  final  attack,  but  it  was  at  the  same  time  the 
most  determined  and  terrible. 

It  seems  strange  that  these  fierce  persecutions  should 
have  arisen  in  an  age  wliich  had  witnessed  long  periods  of 
stillness,  showing  that  there  was  a  possibility  of  the  Pagan 
Empire  and  Christianity  existing,  so  to  speak,  alongside  one 
another,  so  long  as  a  spirit  of  mutual  forbearance  existed,  so 
long  as  a  wise  toleration  was  displayed  by  the  Imperial 
government  of  a  religion  whose  professors  again  and  again 
had  sho-wn  themselves  the  most  loyal  and  peaceful  of  subjects 
and  citizens. 

But  the  truth  was,  Paganism  was  stronger  as  a  creed 
than  later  generations  have  believed.  Superstition  Avide-spread 
and  deeply  rooted  lived  on  in  quarters  where  it  is  difficult 
to  credit  its  existence.  In  the  age  of  the  Antonines  we  have 
seen  that  the  best  and  wisest  among  the  Romans  seem 
firmly  to  have  believed  in  dreams,  in  oracles,  in  soothsayers, 
in  diviners,  in  all  the  strange  and  curious  mechanism,  so  to 
speak,  of  the  Pagan  system.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  doubt 
that  the  wisest  and  best  of  the  Pagan  sovereigns,  the  Emperor 
Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus,  was  a  firm  believer  in  these 
strange  mysteries  of  an  old  and  dying  religion,  and  was 
superstitious  to  an  extreme  degree.  And  if  Marcus  was  an 
earnest  believer  in  these  things,  it  is  surely  not  difficult  to 
understand  that  men  far  inferior  to  him  in  ability  and 
learning  were  in  their  day  slaves  to  the  same  curious  and 
deep-rooted  superstitions.  We  have  to  remember  that  it  was 
an  adept  in  the  occult  sciences  who  persuaded  the  Emperor 
Valerian  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century  to  proscribe 
once  more  the  worshippers  of  Christ,  while  the  awful 
persecution  of  Diocletian  in  the  first  years  of  the  fourth 
century  was  the  result  of  the  pleadings  of  the  men  who 
inspected  the  sacred  victims  offered  at  the  shrines  of  the 
ancient  deities  of  Rome. 

With  this  spirit  of  superstition  still  living  in  the  Empu'e, 
ready  ever  to  break  out  into   open  action,   it  is   not   difficult 


326  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

to  account  for  the  sudden  outbreaks  of  a  fierce  persecution, 
which  we  shall  meet  with  now  and  again  in  the  last  hundred 
and  thirteen  years  of  our  thrilling  story. 

In  close  connection  with  these  troubles  in  the  inner  life 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  in  some  measure  of  the  Church 
of  Carthage  also,  troubles  which  were  doubtless  not  peculiar 
to  these  two  most  important  centres,  was  a  heresy  which 
threatened  to  divide  the  Church  into  two  opposing  camps 
at  a  most  critical  period  of  her  history — yiz.  circa  A.D.  177 
— A.D.  220 — when  struggling  Christianity  was  carrying  on  a 
life  and  death  contest  with  Paganism.  This  heresy  was 
named  Montanism,  after  its  founder,  the  Phrygian  Montanus. 

The  troubles  which,  as  we  have  seen,  so  gravely  disturbed 
the  Church  of  Rome  were  very  real;  they  arrayed  profound 
scholars  and  theologians  of  blameless  life  and  of  the  highest 
reputation,  such  as  Hippolytus  and  Tertulhan,  against  ex- 
perienced prelates  like  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus  of  Rome, 
who  were  supported  by  all  the  organisation  and  power,  and, 
if  we  may  use  the  later  expression,  by  the  public  opinion 
of  the  Catholic  Church. 

These  troubles  arose  i'rom  the  changed  conditions,  notably 
from  the  numbers  and  social  position  of  the  Christians,  who 
were  now  largely  recruited  from  those  classes  which  would 
naturally  participate  freely  in  public  life.  Hence  the  problem  : 
Were  Christians  to  "  come  out  from  the  world,"  to  aim  at 
the  formation  of  a  little  society  of  exclusive  religious  devotees, 
or  were  they  to  go  on  to  a  world-wide  mission  by  more  or 
less  adapting  themselves  to  Roman  society,  its  ways,  its  laws, 
its  customs  ? 

Now  the  Church,  face  to  face  with  this  new  and  changed 
position,  chose  the  second  alternative :  to  use  the  graphic 
language  of  a  modern  scholar,  "  She  marched  through  the 
open  door  into  the  Roman  State,  and  settled  down  there 
for  a  long  career  of  activity,  determining  to  Christianise  the 
State  along  all  its  thoroughfares  by  imparting  to  it  the  word 
of  the  Gospel,  but  at  the  same  time  leaving  it  everything 
except  its  gods."  But  to  do  this  the  Church  in  some  way 
had   to   abandon  its  old  discipline   and  primitive  severity,   its 


INNER   LIFE    OF    THE    GHURGH.  327 

ancient  apostolic  simplicity.  And  although  the  Christian 
community  and  its  responsible  rulers  adopted  this  altered 
policy  there  were  in  its  midst  not  a  few  "  holy  men  of  heart," 
devout  scholars  and  deep  theologians,  who  resented  bitterly 
the  change  of  policy,  and  with  all  their  power  opposed  it 
and  set  themselves  against  it.  This  we  have  seen  in  Rome 
when  Hippolytus  preached  and  wrote  against  the  movement, 
which  he,  and  men  who  thought  like  him,  deemed  secular, 
retrograde,  or,  to  use  a  modern  term,  opportunist ;  and  in 
Carthage  we  have  sketched  the  working  of  a  similar  move- 
ment, where  Tertullian,  with  j^et  gi*eater  vehemence  and 
ability,  protested  against  this  laxer  teaching  and  practice. 
The  contest  between  the  men  who  mourned  over  the  decadence 
of  primitive  Christianity,  and  the  men  of  the  new  school, 
was  being  carried  on  fiercely  at  Rome  and  Carthage  as  the 
second  century  was  expiring,  and  was  continued  in  the  first 
decades  of  the  third. 

A  good  many  years  before  these  dates  there  had  arisen 
in  the  western  districts  of  pro-consular  Asia,  in  the  province 
of  Phrygia,  a  sect  of  Christians  urging  a  more  exacting  standard 
of  moral  obligations  than  was  besfinnino-  to  be  observed  in 
the  Catholic  Church,  especially  with  regard  to  marriage, 
fasting,  and  martyrdom ;  and  at  the  same  time,  in  the  person 
of  its  founder,  Montanus,  advancing  strange  claims  to  the 
possession  of  a  special  prophetic  inspiration,  in  the  sense  in  which 
prophecy  was  understood  in  apostolic  days.  The  headquarters 
of  the  sect  were  the  small  and  little  kno\vn  Phrygian  towns 
of  Pepuza  and  Tymion.  Besides  Montanus  himself,  only  two 
women  named  Prisca  and  Maximilla  seem  ever  to  have 
asserted  that  they  were  endowed  with  prophetic  gifts.  They 
professed  to  utter  the  direct  commands  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  the  principal  burden  of  their  revelation  was  the  necessity 
of  a  more  strict  and  holy  life.  Montanus  appeared  on  the 
scene  about  the  year  156,  when  Antoninus  Pius  was  reigning; 
but  for  some  twenty  years  his  movement  was  confined  to 
Phrygia  and  the  neighbouring  districts. 

After  A.D.  177  Montanism,  as  it  was  called  from  its 
founder,  began  to  spread  over  a  much  wider  area,  and  atten- 


328  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISH. 

tion  became  gradually  attracted  to  its  claims  and  to  its 
teachino:.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  urgency  with  whicli 
the  Montanists  preached  the  imperative  duty  of  a  severer 
life  won  to  their  ranks  in  different  countries  many  earnest 
souls  who  were  utterly  dissatisfied  with  the  laxer  discipline 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  disapproved  of  the  new  policy 
which  was  gradually  being  adopted  by  the  Church  of  Rome 
and  other  great  communities.  It  was  the  ascetic  preaching 
of  the  Montanists  which  at  first  won  them  adherents  rather 
than  their  peculiar  belief  in  a  new  and  special  outpouring 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

On  the  other  hand  the  strange  and  novel  doctrine  con- 
cerning a  special  and  fresh  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
upon  Montanus  and  his  two  female  friends  no  doubt 
seriously  weakened  the  cause  of  the  rigorists — the  party 
which  set  itself  to  oppose  what  they  deemed  the  secularisation 
of  the  Church — by  causing  their  views  to  be  associated 
with  the  Montanist  heresy.  There  was,  in  fact,  no  neces- 
sary connection.  Hippolytus,  for  instance,  one  of  the  most 
earnest  of  those  who  set  themselves  to  denounce  the  new 
departure  in  Church  policy,  in  his  famous  work  "  On 
Heresies,"  speaks  with  profound  contempt  of  Prisca  and 
Maximilla,  the  Montanistic  prophetesses,  whom,  as  he 
said,  the  Montanists  magnified  as  above  the  Apostles;  and 
he  terras  the  majority  of  their  books  as  foolish,  and  their 
arguments  as  worthy  of  no  consideration  {"  Refutation," 
Book  VIII.  12,  and  X.  21).  Tertullian,  indeed,  adopted 
the  full  teaching  of  Montanism  far  on  in  his  career  as  a 
teacher,  but  only  when  he  found  that  the  chasm  was  broaden- 
ing every  day  between  the  old  Christianity  to  which  his 
soul  clung,  with  its  primitive  severit}'-,  its  resolute  refusal  to 
share  in  anything  connected  with  the  life  so  inextricably 
mixed  up  with  the  Pagan  associations  around,  and  the  new 
Christianity  which  more  or  less  accommodated  itself  to  the 
life  of  the  Empire. 

The  Catholic  Church,  however,  as  a  Church,  unswervingly 
opposed  Montanism.  Apollinaris,  Bishop  of  Hierapolis,  an 
eminent   theologian   and   a  voluminous   writer   of  Asia  Minor 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    CHUBGH.  329 

in  the  last  quarter  of  the  second  century,  wrote  strongly 
condemning  their  errors.  Indeed,  the  universal  acceptance 
by  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  canon  of  the  New  Testament 
before  the  close  of  the  second  century,  an  acceptance  which 
rigorously  excluded  all  other  writings  from  the  inspired 
volume,  was  sufficient  to  brand  as  a  deadly  heresy  any 
teaching  respecting  a  new  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
no  hint  of  which  appears  in  the  inspired  pages. 

But,  as  we  have  remarked,  Montanism  for  a  compara- 
tively brief  period  was  a  power  chiefly  in  consequence  of 
its  protest  against  what  may  be  regarded  as  secularism  in 
the  Church,  a  departure  from  the  old  paths  of  primitive 
Christianity.  Besides  its  influence  in  Asia  Minor  and  Africa, 
in  Gaul,  too,  it  evidently  had  made  a  lodgment.  This  much 
we  learn  from  the  sympathetic  letter  addressed  to  Eleutherus 
(Bishop  of  Rome,  a.d.  176  to  a.d.  192)  by  the  Galilean  con- 
fessors, who,  without  expressing  a  definite  opinion  as  to  the 
truth  of  the  Montanistio  claims,  yet  considered  that  com- 
munion should  be  maintained  with  the  Asian  zealots."^ 

In  Rome,  at  one  time  late  in  the  second  century,  accord- 
ing to  TertuUian,  there  was  clearly  a  disposition  in  the  official 
Church,  if  not  to  recognise  the  claims  of  Montanism,  at  least 
to  consider  them  favourably.  Praxeas,  however,  who  is 
charged  with  introducing  from  Asia  the  Sabellian  heresy 
respecting  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  succeeded  in  inducing 
the  Roman  bishop  to  withhold  his  letters  of  conciliation  to 
the  churches  of  Asia  and  Phrygia  on  the  question.  The  ex- 
pressions of  the  great  African  master  here  are  interesting. 
"  For  after  the  Bishop  of  Rome  "  [either  Eleutherus  or  Victor] 
"had  acknowledged  the  prophetic  gifts  of  Montanus,  Prisca, 
and  Maximilla,  and  in  consequence  of  the  acknowledgment 
had  bestowed  his  peace  on  the  churches  of  Asia  and  Phrygia, 

*  The  words  of  the  Gallican  confessors  in  their  letter  to  Eleutherus  were  : 
"  Montanus  (and  others)  were  esteemed  by  many  for  their  gifts  (as  there  were  many 
other  wonderful  powers  of  divine  grace  3  et  exhibited  even  at  this  time  in  different 
churches) ;  they  created  the  belief  with  many  that  they  also  were  endued  with 
prophecy."  For  these  "  they  negotiated,  as  it  were,  for  the  peace  of  the  Churches  " 
with  Eleutherus,  and  also  with  the  brethren  in  Asia  and  Phrygia. — Eusebius  : 
H.  £.,  V.  3. 


330  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

he  (Praxeas),  by  importunately  urging  false  accusations  against 
the  prophets  themselves  and  their  churches,  and  insisting  on 
the  authority  of  the  bishop's  predecessors  in  the  see,  com- 
pelled him  to  recall  the  pacific  letter  which  he  had  issued." 
(Tertullian,  Adv.  Praxean,  cap.  I.) 

There  is  no  question  but  that  Montanism  was  the  most 
dangerous  heresy  as  regards  the  peace  of  the  Church  which 
had  arisen  in  the  first  century  and  a  half  of  its  existence. 
The  various  Gnostic  heresies,  it  is  true,  were  more  far-reaching 
and  probably  affected  greater  numbers  in  the  great  centres  of 
population.  But  the  Gnostic  heresies,  as  far  as  we  are  ac- 
quainted with  them,  were  not  Christian — were  altogether  out- 
side the  pale  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Montanism,  on  the 
other  hand,  arose  in  the  heart  of  Christian  communities,  and 
in  its  burning  advocacy  of  the  old  strictness  and  austerity  of 
primitive  Christianity,  awoke  deep  sympathy  in  the  hearts  of 
many  of  the  most  earnest  followers  of  Jesus,  in  spite  of  its 
strange  delusion  respecting  the  message  of  the  new  prophecy. 

With  the  exception  of  this  grave  delusion  it  does  not 
appear  that  on  great  doctrinal  questions  there  was  any  real 
difference  between  the  Catholics  and  the  Montanists,  although 
Hippolytus  ("  Refutation,"  x.  22)  charges  them  with  hold- 
ing Patripassian  opinions.  It  would  be  difficult,  however, 
with  our  present  knowledge,  to  brand  them  on  this  account 
with  holding  any  definite  error,  for  the  language  at  this 
period  on  the  subject  of  the  Trinity  was  often  loose  and  un- 
guarded. 

But  the  views  of  Montanists  on  the  new  prophecy  were 
amply  sufficient  to  warrant  the  stern  rejection  which  the  sect 
met  with  at  the  hands  of  Cathohc  teachers.  Montanism,  after 
an  existence  of  some  fifty  years,  was  gradually  stamped  out. 
It  produced  no  more  inspired  prophets  or  prophetesses  when 
Montanus,  Prisca,  and  Maximilla  had  passed  away;  and  after 
the  first  decades  of  the  third  century  very  little  is  heard  of  it. 
Only  in  Phrygia  and  its  neighbourhood,  the  land  of  its  nativity, 
did  it  hold  its  ground.  In  these  districts  Montanistic  com- 
munities are  heard  of  as  late  as  the  fourth  century.  With 
the  exception  of  Tertullian  no  considerable  writer  or  theologian 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    CHUBGH.  331 

appears  in  its  ranks,  and  the  adhesion  of  Tertullian  in  his 
later  life  was  gained  no  doubt  largely  owing  to  the  uncom- 
promising stand  of  the  Montanistic  teaching  against  the  new 
and  laxer  policy  of  the  Church. 


SECTION    III. — ALEXANDRIA  :    CLEMENT    AND    ORIGEN. 

There  were  two  great  cities  in  the  Roman  Empire  of  the 
second  and  third  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  which,  from 
their  opulence,  the  number  of  their  inhabitants  and  their 
general  commercial  importance,  occupied  a  position  only  second 
to  Rome  itself.  The  one  was  Alexandria,  the  capital  of  Egypt, 
the  other  Carthage,  the  chief  city  of  the  wealthy  and  populous 
province  of  North  Africa.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in  the 
first  days  of  Christianity  the  religion  of  Jesus  penetrated  into 
these  great  centres  of  population.  But  it  is  only  in  quite  the 
latter  years  of  the  second  century  that  their  churches  came 
to  occupy  a  prominent  position. 

In  both  these  cities  at  that  period  arose  teachers  who 
attained  extraordinary  prominence  among  all  the  leading  com- 
munities of  Christians. 

Alexandria  was  the  emporium  through  which  the  trade 
of  Egypt,  Arabia,  and  far-away  India  largely  flowed  on  its  way 
to  the  capital  and  the  "Western  provinces  of  the  Empire.  In 
the  days  of  the  earlier  Emperors  it  was  said  to  contain  as 
many  as  three  hundred  thousand  free  inhabitants  and  an 
equal  number  of  slaves.  Tradition  ascribes  to  S.  Mark  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  into  the  Egyptian  capital,  which 
subsequently  became  the  cradle  of  Gnosticism,  and  the  centre 
of  its  strange  philosophical  speculations. 

There  is,  however,  little  to  show  that  Christianity  spread 
among  the  native  Egyptians,  in  what  would  now  be  termed 
the  "  hinterland  "  of  the  great  city,  before  the  latter  half  of 
the  third  century;  we  have  learned  in  late  years  much  about 
the  condition  of  Egypt  under  the  Emph-e,  but  all  that  has 
come  before  us  serves  only  to  confirm  the  well-known  picture 
of  the  historian  of  the  Decline  and  Fall.  "  The  progress  of 
Christianity  was  for  a  long  time  confined  within  the  hmits  of 


332  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND   PAGANISM. 

a  single  city,  and  till  the  close  of  the  second  century  the  pre- 
decessors of  Demetrius  (Bishop  of  Alexandria,  a.d.  189)  were 
the  only  prelates  of  the  Christian  Church.  .  .  .  The  body 
of  the  natives,  a  people  distinguished  by  a  sullen  inflexibility 
of  temper,  entertained  the  new  doctrine  with  coldness  and 
reluctance,  and  even  in  the  time  of  Origen  it  was  rare  to  meet 
with  an  Egyptian  who  had  siu-mounted  his  early  prejudices  in 
favour  of  the  sacred  animals  of  his  country.  As  soon,  indeed, 
as  Christianity  had  mounted  the  throne,  the  zeal  of  those 
barbarians  obeyed  the  prevailing  impulsion  ;  the  cities  of  Egypt 
were  filled  with  bishops,  and  the  deserts  of  the  Thebais  swarmed 
with  hermits."  * 

In  the  city  of  Alexandria  existed  a  catechetical  school, 
dating,  some  think,  from  the  days  of  S.  Mark.  The  school, 
after  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  assumed  a  position  of 
considerable  importance  as  a  seminary  of  Christian  instruction, 
and  its  mastership  was  held  by  a  succession  of  eminent  men, 
who  spread  its  fame  into  distant  countries. 

The  first  of  these  distinguished  teachers  was  Pantsenus, 
whose  teaching  work  in  Alexandria  seems  to  have  begun 
somewhat  before  a.d.  186.  Of  this  Pantfenus  we  know  little 
beyond  the  high  testimony  paid  him  by  his  pupil  and  successor, 
Clement,  who,  after  enumerating  the  great  teachers  at  whose 
feet  he  had  sat,  refers  to  Pantsenus  in  the  following  remarkable 
terms :  "  When  I  came  upon  the  last  (he  was  first  in  power), 
having  tracked  him  out  concealed  in  Egypt,  I  found  rest.  He, 
the  true,  the  Sicilian  bee,  gathering  the  spoil  of  the  flowers  of 
the  prophetic  and  apostolic  meadow,  engendered  in  the  souls 
of  his  hearers  a  deathless  element  of  knowledge.  Well  they  " 
[the  teachers  whom  Clement  had  listened  to],  "  preserving  the 
tradition  of  the  blessed  doctrine  derived  directly  from  the 
holy  Apostles  Peter,  James,  John  and  Paul,  the  son  receiving 
it  from  the  father  (but  few  were  like  the  fathers),  came  by 
God's  will  to  us  also  to  deposit  those  ancestral  and  apostolic 
seeds."  t 

*  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall,  xv. 

t  Clem.  Alex.  Stromata,  Book  I.,  Chap.  I.,  and  see  too  Eueebius,  if.  E.,  v.  11. 
Eusebius  says  that  Pantt-emis  was  also  expressly  mentioned  by  name  by  Clement 


IXNEB    LIFE    OF    THE    GHUECH.  333 

The  second  of  the  great  masters  of  the  Alexandrian  school 
was  the  famous  Clement,  whose  words  have  just  been  quoted. 
Clement's  life  story,  beyond  the  fact  of  his  having  followed 
his  master,  Pantsenus,  in  the  headship  of  the  Alexandria  school, 
is  almost  a  blank,  save  for  what  we  gather  incidentally  from 
his  surviving  writings.  He  tells  us  that  he  spent  his  earlier 
years  in  search  of  wisdom,  that  he  was  the  pupil  of  various 
eminent  teachers,  but  that  it  was  in  Pantsenus'  teachino"  that 
at  last  he  found  rest.  He  was  driven  from  his  work  in  the 
school  at  Alexandria  by  the  persecution  of  Severus  early  in 
the  second  century,  and  tradition  speaks  of  his  dying  about 
the  year  220.  But  although  the  details  of  most  of  his  hfe 
are  unknown,  he  has  left  behind  him  many  writings,  very  con- 
siderable portions  of  which  we  still  possess.  These  works  of 
his  were  widely  read  at  the  end  of  the  second  and  through  the 
third  centuries,  and  they  exercised  a  great,  even  a  lasting, 
influence  on  the  Catholic  Church. 

It  was  Clement  who  really  introduced  into  Christian 
teaching  the  study  of  heathen  philosophy.  Justin  Martyr, 
about  a  quarter  of  a  century  earlier,  had  in  some  measure  anti- 
cipated him  here  in  the  view  that  a  Christian  training  by  no 
means  excluded  the  study  of  the  great  masters  of  antiquity ; 
but  the  reading  of  Justin  was  altogether  on  a  much  narrower 
scale  than  that  of  the  great  Alexandrian  master.  It  may  be 
generally  assumed  that,  prior  to  Clement,  Christian  teachers 
viewed  all  the  great  philosophers  with  dishke,  and  looked  on 
their  writings  as  opposed  to  Christianity.  Clement  took  a 
broader  and  truer  view  of  the  great  Greek  masters,  and 
urged  that  in  them  might  often  be  found  glimpses  of  the 
truth;  that,  in  fact,  the  noble  Greek  philosophy  was  the 
preparation  of  the  Greeks  for  the  full  revelation  of  Christ. 
It  may  be  said  that  Clement  and  his  successor,  and  in  some 
respects  his  disciple,  the  yet  greater  Origen,  did  for  the  schools 

in  the  S>/poti/poses  {OT  "Institutions").  This  work,  however,  is  lost ;  but  Eusebius 
especially  refers  to  the  above-quoted  passage  from  the  Stroinata,  which  he  believes 
i-efers  to  this  Panta^nus. 

Eusebius,  S.  E.,  v.  10,  also,  but  somewhat  vaguely,  speaks  of  Pantasnus  having 
undertaken  a  missionary  journey  to  the  nations  of  the  East,  travelling  as  far  as 
the  "Indies,"  and  subsequently  retui-ning  to  Alexandria. 


334  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  Christianity  what  Zephyrinns  and  Calhstus  and  their  fol- 
lowers did  for  practical  Christianity.  The  latter  broadened 
immensely  its  sphere  of  action,  the  former  did  the  same  for 
its  sphere  of  study,  thus  elevating  Christianity  from  a  posi- 
tion which  there  seemed  some  danger  of  its  occupying, 
as  the  religion  merely  of  a  devoted  but  narrow  and  ex- 
clusive sect,  and  enabling  it  to  become  the  religion  of  the 
world. 

Clement  has  been  well  represented  as  seeking  the  truth 
from  whatever  quarter  he  could  obtain  it,  believing  that  all 
that  is  good  comes  from  God,  wherever  it  be  found.  His 
orthodoxy  in  deep  fundamental  questions,  as  far  as  it  went, 
has  never  been  fairly  impugned.  He  believed  in  a  personal 
Son  of  God,  who  was  the  Reason  and  Wisdom  of  God,  and 
distinctly  taught  that  the  Son  of  God  became  incarnate. 
This  true  scholar  was  a  voluminous  writer.  His  three  great 
works— (1)  "The  Exhortation  to  the  Heathen";  (2)  "The 
Instructor  or  Psedagogus  "  ;  (3)  "  The  Stromata  or  Miscellanies  " 
(literally  "  The  Tapestry ") — we  possess,  complete  or  nearly 
complete.  They  form  a  series,  and  are  the  largest  and  perhaps 
the  most  valuable  early  Christian  remains  which  have  come 
down  to  us,  dating,  as  they  do,  only  a  little  more  than  a 
century  after  S.  John's  death.  There  is  a  long  list  of  other 
treatises  and  works  by  Clement  given  us  by  Eusebius  and 
Jerome,  but  with  the  exception  of  the  treatise  or  more 
probably  the  sermon,  "  Who  is  the  rich  man  that  is  saved  ? " 
and  a  few  fragments,  these  are  all  lost.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  all  the  Books  included  in  the  Canon  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, save  Ruth  and  the  Song  of  Solomon,  are  quoted  as 
authoritative  in  his  extant  works.  In  the  New  Testament 
Canon  he  refers  to  and  quotes  from  all  the  Books  of  the 
Canon,  with  the  exception  of  Philemon,  the  second  Epistle 
of  S.  Peter,  and  the  Epistle  of  S.  James. 

The  third  of  the  famous  teachers  of  the  Alexandrian 
Catechetical  school  was,  in  all  respects,  a  more  distinguished 
theologian  and  thought  leader  than  either  of  his  eminent 
predecessors.  Origen  holds  a  unique  place  among  the  Christian 
teachers  of  the  first  three  centuries.     Unlike  either  Pantsenus 


INNER    LIFE    OF   THE    CHURCH.  335 

or  Clement,  the  story  of  his  stormy  and  chequered  career  is 
fairly  well  known. 

Born  at  Alexandria  somewhere  about  a.d.  185,  of  Christian 
parents,  at  an  early  age  he  was  placed  under  the  tutelage 
of  Pantasnus  or  Clement.  His  father,  Leonidas,  suffered 
martyrdom  early  in  the  third  century,  and  the  young  Origen, 
who  had  displayed  extraordinary  talents  and  powers  of  work, 
was  soon  placed  by  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria  Demetrius 
at  the  head  of  the  catechetical  school  in  his  native  city. 
But  although  thus  early  a  prominent  teacher,  he  remained 
still  an  indefatigable  student,  not  only  of  Christian  lore  but 
of  the  principal  Greek  writers.  He  devoted  himself  besides 
with  great  ardour  to  Hebrew  studies.  An  apparently  true 
tradition  speaks  of  his  ascetic,  devoted  life.  His  fame  as  a 
teacher  and  a  profound  scholar  soon  spread  far  beyond 
Alexandria,  which,  however,  remained  the  principal  scene  of 
his  literary  activities  for  some  twenty-eight  years,  though 
he  undertook  many  journeys  to  Rome,  Syria,  Arabia,  Palestine. 
It  Avas  in  this  period  of  his  career  that  he  was  summoned  to 
visit  Mamsea,  the  mother  of  Alexander  Severus,  who  became 
subsequently  Emperor,  to  instruct  her  in  Christianity.  He 
remained  with  this  illustrious  lady  some  time,  "  exhibiting," 
as  Eusebius  (H.  E.,  vi.  21)  tells  us,  "innumerable  illustra- 
tions of  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  of  the  excellence  of  divine 
instruction." 

It  was  about  a.d.  228-30  that  the  real  troubles  of  Origen's 
life  commenced.  A  bitter  feud  sprang  up  between  Bishop 
Demetrius  and  the  world-renowned  scholar.  Many  students 
of  the  period  somewhat  reluctantly  see  in  the  hostility  of 
the  bishop  a  restless  jealousy  of  the  brilliant  writer  and 
teacher ;  they  are  probably  accurate  in  their  conclusions, 
but  at  the  same  time  Origen's  apologists  are  compelled  to 
recognise  in  him  a  want  of  subordination,  and  at  times  even 
an  ill-balanced  zeal;  nor  can  his  warmest  admirers  always 
defend  his  theological  opinions,  which  not  infrequently  took 
the  form  of  wild  and  somewhat  baseless  speculations.  The 
powerful  bishop  procured  his  banishment  from  Alexandria, 
so   long  his  home,  and  even   his  deposition  from   the   status 


336  EARLY    CHEISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  a  presbyter,  to  which  office  he  had  been  ordained  by  the 
Bishops  of  Palestine.  Henceforward  we  find  Origen  hving 
under  the  ban  of  the  Alexandrian  Church,  and  indeed  ot 
many  other  important  communities  influenced  by  Alexandria. 
He  now  took  up  his  abode  at  Csesarea,  where  he  organised 
a  school  of  divinity,  the  reputation  of  which,  under  his  match- 
less teaching,  was  said  to  rival  that  of  Alexandria.  In  his 
later  years  we  hear  of  him  in  correspondence  with  the  so- 
called  Christian  Emperor  Phihp,  and  his  Empress.  But  it 
was  a  mournful  evening  to  the  life  of  the  great  and  famous 
scholar,  and  a  poor  guerdon  after  all  to  live  on  thus  con- 
demned, and  viewed  with  suspicion,  if  not  with  positive 
dislike,  by  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
for  which  he  had  laboured  for  so  many  long  years  with  such 
tireless  devotion  and  conspicuous  success.  He  was  subse- 
quently arrested  and  maltreated  by  the  Pagan  authorities  in 
the  Decian  persecution ;  dying  not  long  after  the  persecution 
had  ceased,  about  the  year  254,  at  Tyre,  where  his  grave 
was  still  pointed  out  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

In  some  respects  Origen  was  a  follower  of  Clement,  his 
teacher  and  predecessor  in  the  headship  of  the  catechetical 
school,  inasmuch  as  he  was  a  profound  student  of  the  great 
Greek  philosophers.  He  even  composed  an  important  work 
in  ten  books,  of  which  only  fragments  remain,  in  imitation 
of,  and  bearing  the  same  name  as,  the  famous  Stromata 
of  Clement.  During  a  long  life  of  ceaseless  work  Origen 
put  out,  so  Epiphanius  tells  us,  as  many  as  6,000  volumes, 
but  to  reach  anything  like  this  amazing  number  (which  is 
probably  greatly  exaggerated)  every  treatise,  large  and  small, 
every  homily  must  have  been  reckoned  as  a  separate  volume. 
Jerome,  too,  who  at  one  time  was  a  strong  admirer  of  Origen, 
says,  "  He  wrote  more  than  any  individual  could  read." 

Perhaps  the  greatest  of  his  literary  achievements,  and  one 
to  which  the  friends  and  foes  of  the  great  Alexandrian  must 
unite  in  awarding  unstinting  praise,  was  his  noble  work  in 
criticism.  He  spent  large  portions  of  more  than  twenty 
years  in  attempting  to  provide  a  complete  revision  of  the 
text  of  the  Septuagint  (Greek)  version  of  the  Old  Testament 


INNER    LIFE    OF   TEE    CEUBCH.  337 

Scriptures.  It  is  said  that  his  studies  in  Hebrew  were  under- 
taken to  qualify  himself  for  this  task.  Large  sections  of  this 
work  have  been  preserved,  but  the  bulk  of  his  notes  and 
texts,  contained,  it  is  said,  in  forty  or  fifty  volumes,  has 
perished.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  burnt  in  the  library 
of  Ctesarea  when  that  city  was  taken  by  the  Arabs  in  a.d. 
653.  This  scholarly  and  careful  effort  in  Textual  Criticism 
was  far  in  advance  of  anything  undertaken  in  the  Christian 
Church  for  centuries  after  Origen's  death. 

Although  the  extant  works  of  this  most  eminent  teacher 
are  numerous,  they  bear  no  comparison  to  the  number  of  his 
lost  writings.  The  enormous  mass  of  his  compositions  may 
be  roughly  divided  as  follows  : 

(1)  His  Textual  studies,  perhaps  the  most  important  of  all, 
of  which  we  have  already  spoken. 

(2)  His  Apologetics.  Origen's  principal  Avork  in  this 
department  of  theology,  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  is  his 
book  "  Against  Celsus,"  written  at  Csesarea  far  on  in  his  life, 
when  Philip,  the  so-caUed  Christian,  was  reigning.  This  im- 
portant composition  we  possess  in  its  entirety.  The  writing 
in  question  is  considered,  by  many  scholars,  as  the  great 
apologetic  work  of  Christian  antiquity.  It  bears  the  mark  of 
Origen's  profound  studies  in  ancient  philosophies  which  clearly 
coloured  much  of  his  more  speculative  theology.  It  has  been 
well  said  that  his  argument  is  most  effective  "  when  he  appeals 
to  the  spirit  and  power  of  Christianity  as  an  evidence  of  its  truth." 

(3)  His  exegetical  labours.  These  extend  over  the  whole 
of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments,  and  consist  of  Scholia, 
short  notes  largely  grammatical ;  of  Homilies,  or  Expositions ; 
and  of  more  or  less  elaborate  Commentaries.  Very  few  of  all 
these  have  been  preserved  in  the  Greek  originals,  but  we 
possess  many  Latin  translations  of  portions  of  them.^ 

It  is  in  this  department  of  his  vast  work  that  this  true- 
hearted  toiler  for  God  excited  much  of  the  animosity  which 
has  in  all  ages  pursued  him.  It  was  no  doubt  a  dangerous 
principle,  and  one  that  admitted  of  much  perilous  exaggera- 
tion to  affirm,  that  things  written  in  Holy  Scripture  which 
offended  his  exegetical  sense,  might  be  fairly  looked  upon  as 
w 


338  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

allegories.  Of  this  danger,  however,  he  evidently  was  sensible 
when  (Be  Princijnis,  iv.,  i.  19)  he  wrote  the  following  words : 
"Let  no  one  suspect  that  we  do  not  believe  any  history  in 
Scripture  to  be  real,  because  we  suspect  certain  events  related 
in  it  not  to  have  taken  place  ...  we  are  manifestly  of 
opinion  that  the  truth  of  the  history  may  and  ought  to  be 
maintained  in  the  majority  of  instanceft."  This  whole  section 
of  the  Be  Princi'piis  deserves  careful  study  by  both  the 
friends  and  foes  of  the  famous  Alexandrian  master. 

(4)  Of  his  dogmatical  writings  only  one  important  work 
has  come  down  to  us,  the  Ilepl  'Apx<ov,  or  "  Fundamental 
Doctrines,"  and  that  in  the  Latin  translation  of  Rufinus,  the 
translator  of  which  has  in  many  passages  taken  upon  himself, 
as  we  know,  to  alter  and  "  improve "  upon  the  original.  The 
Greek  version  which  Origen  really  wrote  has  perished  ;  only 
a  few  fragments  have  been  preserved.  It  is  from  these  mainly 
that  it  has  been  ascertained  that  Rufinus  has  in  various 
places  altered  the  original.  The  Stromata,  above  referred 
to,  has  perished,  save  for  a  lew  fragments. 

In  great  essentials  Origen  was  generally  a  Catholic  teacher  ; 
he  held  that  Christianity  was  a  practical  and  religious  saving 
principle,  and  he  pressed  home  to  the  hearts  and  heads  of 
men  that  simple  faith  was  sufficient  for  the  renewal  and 
salvation  of  man.  Later,  in  times  of  bitter  controversy,  both 
the  Catholics  and  the  Arians  appealed  to  his  teaching;  but 
the  inferences  of  Arius  in  respect  to  his  Ghristology  were 
distinctly  unfair.  It  has  been  well  said  that  "  a  mind  so 
speculative  as  that  of  Origen,  and  so  engrossed  with  the 
deepest  and  most  difficult  problems  of  human  thought,  must 
sometimes  have  expressed  itself  in  a  way  liable  to  be  mis- 
understood." It  must,  too,  in  forming  any  judgment  on 
Origen's  statements,  be  ever  borne  in  mind  that  "  when  he 
lived  and  taught,  no  General  Council  had  yet  been  held,  to 
formulate  in  clear-cut  language  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic 
Church  upon  any  of  those  great  questions  of  theology  which 
convulsed  the  Christian  world  during  the  two  centuries,  the 
fourth  and  fifth,  which  followed  the  century  in  which  the 
Alexandrian  master  thouR-ht  and  wrote."  • 


INNER    LIFE    OF    THE    CHURCH.  339 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Origen  gave  grave  offence  to  serious 
theologians  in  his  own  day  and  in  subsequent  times,  rather 
by  his  isolated  propositions  than  by  his  statements  regarding 
great  Catholic  doctrines.  Some  of  these  isolated  propositions 
from  their  very  strangeness  and  novelty  acquired  a  wide 
notoriety,  and,  unfortunately,  it  is  by  these  often  somewhat  wild 
speculations  that  Origen  is  best  known.  Those  who,  not 
unrighteously,  condemn  these  as  purely  speculative,  as  outside 
if  not  contrary  to  Scripture,  forget  the  real  and  massive  work 
of  the  great  master's  life,  a  work  simply  unique  in  the  story 
of  Christendom.  Textual  critic,  grammarian,  exegete,  homilist, 
Christian  apologist,  teacher  of  the  highest  theology,  Origen 
was  all  these.  From  the  daj's  of  the  divinely  taught  Apostles 
of  the  Lord  no  Christian  scholar  had  arisen  comparable  to 
him.  In  the  long  ages  which  have  elapsed  since  "  the  pass- 
ing "  of  the  Great  Teacher,  it  would  be  hard  to  find  his  peer. 

Among  the  most  noted  of  the  speculative  propositions — 
unheard  of  in  those  Holy  Scriptures  which  Origen  loved  so 
well  —  which  have  been  condemned  by  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity, and  are  esteemed  by  many  as  blots  upon  the  white 
record  of  his  blameless  scholar  life,  are  his  curious 
doctrines  respecting  the  pre-existence  of  souls,  and  his 
teaching  respecting  punishments,  which  he  held  to  be 
merely  corrective,  being  ordained  in  order  that  all  creatures 
may  be  eventually  restored  to  their  original  perfection.  No 
cotndemned  soul,  according  to  Origen,  was  without  hope, 
although  thousands  of  years  of  torment  might  elapse  before 
the  suffering  to  which  the  soul  was  condemned  had  wrought 
its  cleansing  effect. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  unmerited  perse- 
cution he  underwent  during  the  later  years  of  his  life,  which 
separated  him  from  the  communion  of  his  own  Church  of 
Alexandria  and  of  other  influential  churcKes,  placed  him  in 
a  false  position,  and  opened  the  door  to  much  of  the  subse- 
quent onslaught  on  his  reputation.  During  the  latter  years 
of  his  life  Origen  was  clearly  under  the  ban  of  the  larger 
portion  of  the  Catholic  Church  —  unfairly  it  seems,  but  the 
fact  still  remains. 


340  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

After  his  death  his  orthodoxy,  rightly  or  wrongly,  was 
very  soon  widely  impugned;  but  as  early  as  the  fourth  cen- 
tury his  memory  found  many  able  and  zealous  defenders, 
amongst  them  the  famous  historian  Eusebius,  and  even  the 
great  Athanasius.  Nor  were  these  true  scholars  and  divines 
by  any  means  alone  in  their  generous  advocacy  of  Origen's 
claim  to  Catholic  reverence. 

But  after  all  they  were  in  the  minority.  In  the  West 
the  famous  and  widely-read  Vincent  of  Lerins,  in  the  first 
half  of  the  fifth  century,  spoke  of  Origen  as  a  warning  and 
example,  in  his  well-known  GoTnmonitoriuin,  pointing  out 
how  even  the  most  learned  of  Church  teachers  might 
become  a  misleading  light.  Even  the  school  of  Alexandria, 
although,  perhaps  unconsciously,  profoundly  influenced  by  his 
writings,  repudiated  the  greatest  of  her  sons,  and  the  Church 
of  Antioch  followed  suit.  In  the  year  553  Justinian  and 
the  fifth  (Ecumenical  Council  of  Constantinople  anathematised 
the  teaching  of  Origen. 

In  modern  times,  far  removed  from  an  age  when  jealousies 
and  prejudices  unfavourably  affected  the  Church's  estimate 
of  his  powers,  both  Romanists  and  Anglicans  have  come  to 
entertain  a  broader  and  nobler  conception  of  the  greatest 
of  the  Church's  scholar-writers  of  the  first  three  centuries. 
They  do  not  attempt  to  condone  his  errors,  but  they  unite 
in  acknowledging  the  mighty  debt  which  the  Catholic 
Church  of  all  ages  owes  to  the  great  Alexandrian.  For 
instance,  Bishop  Bull,  who  will  ever  hold  a  high  place, 
perhaps  the  highest,  among  our  Anglican  divines,  defends 
his  general  orthodoxy ;  while  Tillemont,  "  the  sure-footed " 
historian  of  Port  Ro3^al,  whose  matchless  erudition  is  one 
of  the  household  words  of  all  fair-minded  Catholics,  Roman 
and  Anglican  alike,  whose  praise  is  justly  in  all  the  Churches, 
dares  to  say  in  the  face  of  ancient  condemnation  and  jealous 
misrepresentation,  "  that  although  such  a  man  might  hold 
heretical  opinions,  he  could  not  be  a  heretic,  since  he  was 
utterly  free  from  the  spirit  which  constitutes  the  guilt  of 
heresy." 


341 


CHAPTER    XIII, 

FROM    DECIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN. 
SECTION    I. — CARTHAGE:    CYPRIAN. 

Carthage  in  the  first  half  of  the  third  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  Herodian  tells  us,  was  in  population  and  wealth 
the  equal  of  Alexandria  and  second  only  to  Rome,  The 
great  city  had  a  wonderful  history;  it  had  long  disputed  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Mediterranean  seaboard  with  Rome,  and 
after  a  contest,  which  more  or  less  went  on  for  a  century, 
was  completely  defeated,  and  in  the  year  146  B.C.  was  burned 
and  utterly  desolated.  It  was  said  that  in  the  hour  of  its 
ruin  it  contained  700,000  inhabitants.  Under  Julius  Caesar 
and  Augustus  it  became  once  more  an  important  and  flourish- 
ing city  and  a  mighty  emporium  of  commerce.  Its  rare  beauty 
gave  it  an  especial  distinction  among  the  great  homes  of 
wealth  and  industry  of  the  old  world.  "Faintly  we  may 
picture  to  ourselves  a  material  something  not  wholly  unlike 
what  Carthage  was.  Scarcely  any  city  yields  so  many  scenes. 
The  streets  gathering  themselves  in  unique  symmetry  to  the 
feet  of  sudden  steeps  and  many  tinted  marble  heights,  or 
opening  full  on  the  glistening  qu.a,js  and  the  breathless 
harbours,  graceful  hills  about  it  crowned  with  shrines  and 
villas  .  .  .  the  vast  lake  where  navies  of  commerce  and  of 
pleasure  rode  close  to  the  streets,  severed  by  a  thread  from 
the  open  sea,  mountain  crests  in  snow  watching  from  the 
distance,  through  all  and  over  all  that  keen  light  and  intense 
blue  of  Africa.""     But  the  city,  literally  matchless  for  beauty 

*  Ai-chbishop  Benson  :  Cyprian — Introduction.  "  The  beautiful  gardens 
and  shady,  woody  pleasaunces  of  the  wealthy  nobles  aad  merchants  of  Carthage 
stretched  for  miles  outside  the  city,  unmatched  even  at  Rome." 


342  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

and  wealth,  has  experienced  the  strangest  vicissitudes.  It 
arose,  perhaps,  grander  than  ever  during  the  Empire  after 
its  utter  destruction  in  the  Punic  Wars.  It  was  wrecked  and 
desolated  again  by  the  Vandals  under  Genseric  in  the  year 
439 ;  and  in  the  last  years  of  the  seventh  century  "  whatever 
yet  remained  of  Carthage  was  delivered  to  the  flames  by  the 
conquering  Mohammedan  Arabs  .  .  .  The  very  ruins  of 
Carthage  have  perished,  and  the  place  might  be  unknown 
if  some  broken  arches  of  an  aqueduct  did  not  guide  the 
footsteps  of  the  inquisitive  traveller."''^  Of  material  Carthage, 
writes  the  last  scholarly  biographer  of  S.  Cyprian,  we  have 
less  knowledge  than  of  any  great  city.  "  Carthage  has  been 
learnedly  rebuilt  in  the  air,  its  temples  and  streets  mapped 
and  raised,  but  all  are  as  visionary  as  a  mirage." 

In  this  magnificent  city,  and  in  the  province  of  which  it 
was  the  centre,  before  the  middle  of  the  third  century  a 
flourishing  branch  of  the  Christian  Church  existed,  consisting 
of  many  communities,  and  evidently  elaborately  organised. 
Sixty-six  bishops  met  Cyprian,  the  Metropolitan,  at  the 
Council  held  in  Carthage  in  a.d.  253.  In  the  Cyprianic  papers 
it  is  said  that  the  names  of  as  many  as  a  hundred  and  tifty 
African  bishops  occur.! 

A  striking  fact  is  noticeable  in  connection  with  this  North 
African  Church.  It  was  here,  not  in  Rome  and  Italy,  that 
Latin  Christianity  and  literature  first  arose,  here  that  the 
earliest  of  the  Latin  versions  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures 
was  made.  While  the  Christian  Church  at  Rome  was  still 
Greek,  a  Church  largely  made  up  of  foreigners  resident  in  the 
great  capital,  in  Carthage  the  Roman  and  Latin  speaking 
population  was  in  great  measure  Christian.  No  tradition  has 
reached  us  of  the  date  when  the  rehgion  of  Jesus  was  first 
introduced  into  this  important  province  of  the  Empire. 
Augustine  suggests,  when  speaking  of  the  names  by  which  the 
two   Sacraments   were   known  in  Africa,  "  Salus "  and  "  Vita," 

*  Gibbon :  Becline  and  Fall,  chap.  li.  For  a  glowing  jjicture  of  ancii-nt 
Carthage  compare  Salnmho,  by  Gustave  Flaubert. 

t  Archbishop  Benson :  Cyprian,  Introduction.  And  of  all  these  bishops  not  more 
than  one  appears  to  possess  a  Punic  name,  the  vast  majority  are  Latin  names. 


FEOM   DEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  343 

that  the  names  in  question  must  have  come  through  some 
Apostolic  source.  Among  the  Hsteners  to  Peter's  famous 
Pentecostal  sermon  were,  we  read  (Acts  ii.  10),  "dwellers  in 
the  parts  of  Lybia  about  Cyrene."  The  story  of  Jesus  might 
well  have  been  spread  along  the  African  coast  by  these  Jews 
of  Cyrene,  who  had  listened  to  S.  Peter. 

But  we  have  selected  Carthage  and  Alexandria  for  our 
especial  study  because,  in  the  churches  of  these  famous 
Imperial  centres,  at  the  most  critical  moment  in  the  early 
story  of  Christianity,  when  the  religion  of  Jesus  was  first 
brought  piMicly  face  to  face  with  Paganism,  arose  the  four 
greatest  earthly  makers  of  Christianity,  who  appeared  in  the 
first  two  hundred  and  eighty  years  of  stress  and  storm.  We 
have  dwelt  on  the  Alexandrian  masters,  Clement  and  Origen ; 
we  have  spoken,  too,  already,  of  the  Carthaginian  master, 
TertuUian,^  who  taught  and  wrote  in  the  first  quarter  of  the 
third  century.  The  last  in  order  of  time  of  these  four  great  ones, 
C3rprian  of  Carthage,  who  suffered  martyrdom  for  the  Faith  in  the 
year  258,  was  in  some  respects  the  most  eminent  of  them  all. 
As  a  writer,  indeed,  although  his  literary  works  are  deservedly 
famous,  and  were  far-reaching  in  their  influence,  he  was 
inferior  to  the  first  three,  Clement,  Origen,  and  Tertulhan; 
but  he  represents  a  type  of  man  somewhat  different  from  any 
that  had  as  yet  appeared  among  the  ranks  of  the  Christian 
communities. 

He  was,  it  is  true,  a  great  scholar  and  thinker,  but  at  the 
same  time  he  was,  what  such  men  usually  are  not,  a  born 
leader,  of  a  wondrously  winning  personality  which  aroused  the 
warmest  and  most  affectionate  devotion  among  his  contem- 
poraries :  a  devotion  which  survived  him,  as  we  see  in  the 
references  to  him  and  his  work  again  and  again,  in  the  writings 
of  Augustine  in  the  West,  and  of  Gregory  Nazianzen  in  the 
East.  To  this  was  added  the  halo  of  a  white,  pure  life  ;  men 
in  different  lands  and  of  different  race  believed  in  his  unswerving 
integrity  of  purpose,  even  when  they  differed  from  his  views. 

*  Tertullian  and  his  life-work  were  especially  dwelt  upon  in  Chapter  XII., 
because  his  influence  and  teaching  were  inseparably  bound  up  with  the  important 
school  of  thought  which  grew  up  at  Rome  under  Hippolytus  in  the  Pontificates 
of  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus. 


SU  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

In  some  respects  he  is  justly  considered  as  the  founder  of 
Latin  Christianity.  Deeply  impressed  by  his  training  and 
earlier  associations  with  the  majesty  of  the  Roman  strength 
and  Roman  respect  of  law,  he  believed  that  the  strength  of 
the  Church  was  based  upon  its  unity,  and  that  this  unity 
depended  upon  its  acknowledgment  of  the  absolute  supremacy 
of  the  bishop — who  alone  could  enforce  discipline  and  order, 
in  matters  of  doctrine  as  well  as  in  life. 

Until  the  time  of  Cyprian,  "  the  absolute  supremacy  of  the 
bishop  had  been  little  more  than  a  lofty  title,  or,  at  least,  a 
vague,  ill-defined  assumption."  Through  his  teaching  and  vast 
influence  it  became  "a  substantial  and  world-wide  fact."  He 
added  little  or  nothing  to  the  claims  of  the  Episcopate  put 
forward  by  men  like  Ignatius  or  Irenseus — for  with  Ignatius 
at  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  the  bishop  was  "  the 
centre  of  Christian  unity " ;  with  IrenEtus,  far  on  in  the  same 
century,  he  was  "  the  depository  of  Apostolic  tradition." 
Cyprian,  in  his  teaching,  closely  followed  these  great  masters  ; 
but  he  raised  the  Episcopate  to  a  higher  level,  and  put  new 
force  into  old  titles  of  respect.  With  Cyprian,  the  bishop  was 
"  the  absolute  Vice-gerent  of  Christ  in  things  spiritual."  He 
was  popularly  elected,  it  is  true,  by  the  commons  of  Christ's 
Church,  but  was  no  bishop  until  he  had  received  consecration 
through  bishops  by  transmission  from  times  when  the  guidance 
of  the  Apostles  was  present  in  the  Church."^ 

From  the  position  of  lofty  independence  to  which  Cyprian 
raised  the  Episcopate  it  has  never  since  been  deposed.  His 
theory  underlies  Catholic  Christendom  to-day.  Wherever 
it  has  been  departed  from.  Church  order  has  gravely  suffered. 
Rome,  resting  largely  upon  traditional  statements  of  Cyprian, 
which  the  great  theologian  never  really  advanced,  has  subse- 
quently overridden  the  freedom  of  the  Episcopate  by  a 
usurpation  unquestioned  in  a  large  portion  of  Western 
Christendom,  while  a  reaction  against  Rome  in  some  of  the 
countries  of  North- Western  Europe  has  deliberately  set  aside 
bishops  altogether  and  the  episcopal  theory  of  Church  govern- 

*  Cf.  Bishop  Lightfoot,  Dissertation  on  the  Christian  Ministry  in  £]>.  to 
rhilippiann.     Archbishop  Benson,  Cyprian,  chap.  xii. 


FB03I   DEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  345 

ment.  From  this  fatal  error  has  sprung  much  of  the  disorder 
in  doctrines,  teaching,  and  ecclesiastical  organisation  which 
so  many  serious  members  of  the  non-episcopal  communities 
honestly  deplore.^ 

We  shall  dwell  with  some  detail  upon  the  Church  of 
Carthage  and  upon  its  great  chief,  for  much  light  will  be 
thrown  thereby  upon  the  inner  life  of  the  Church  in  his 
day.  Some  serious,  special  difficulties  presented  themselves 
in  the  heart  of  the  charmed  circle  of  the  Christian  com- 
munities. These  had  to  be  grappled  with,  and  without  delay, 
for  they  threatened  to  disturb  the  Church's  government  and 
gravely  to  interfere  with  its  discipline  and  order. 

Nothing  is  known  of  Cyprian's  early  life.  A  native  most 
probably  of  Carthage,  we  first  hear  of  him  about  the  year 
246,  in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Philip,  at  which  date  he  was 
the  foremost  advocate  in  the  law  courts  of  Carthage,  and  had 
just  joined  the  Christian  community.  He  was  possessed  of 
great  wealth.  His  villa  was  magnificent,  and  his  gardens 
famed  for  their  beauty.  In  the  Christian  Church  he  became 
a  deacon,  then  a  presbyter,  and  with  strange  rapidity  we  find 
him,  on  the  death  of  the  Bishop  of  Carthage,  Donatus,  called 
by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  community  of  believers  to 
the  vacant  chief  post  in  the  Church.  Only  five  presbyters 
are  related  to  have  been  opposed  to  the  popular  election, 
and  these  five  for  a  long  period  remained  in  bitter  antagonism. 
Cyprian  at  first  declined  the  high  office  thus  thrust  upon 
him,  but  the  mass  of  the  Christian  population  of  the  great 
city,  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  citizens,  would  hear 
of  no  refusal.  Cyprian  then  consented  to  accept  the  important 
and  arduous  office.  This  was  in  the  year  24S.  His  great 
reputation,  his  wide  scholarship,  his  known  eloquence  and 
hisrh  character,  all  desig^nated  the  new  convert  as  the  most 
fitting  successor  to  Donatus. 

When   Cyprian   became   chief  of  the   Christian   society  of 

*  The  great  and  far-reaching  Anglo-Catholic  Communion,  which  numbers  in 
its  Episcopate  bishops  of  sees  situate  in  Great  Britain,  and  in  the  yet  greater  Britain 
beyond  the  oceans,  has  followed  a  fia  media  between  these  two  extremes.  The 
theory  of  Anglican  episcopal  government  is  largely  that  of  Cypriar. 


346  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  third  city  of  the  Roman  Empire,  only  a  few  months 
remained  to  the  communities  of  the  long  period  of  stillness, 
of  immunity  from  all  persecution,  which,  with  only  a  brief 
interruption,  had  lasted  some  thirty-eight  years. 

The  unlooked-for  death  of  the  Emperor  Philip  in  a  military 
revolt  removed  from  the  scene  one  who,  if  not  a  Christian, 
was  certainly  the  friend  of  the  Christians.  A  very  different 
spirit  was  at  once  shown  by  his  successor,  the  choice  of  the 
powerful  army  of  Moesia,  which  had  revolted  against  Philip. 
The  new  Emperor  Decius  was  no  ordinary  man.  In  the 
"  Augustan  History  "  he  occupies  a  very  honourable  place  among 
the  small  number  of  "  good  Emperors "  who  reigned  between 
Augustus  and  Diocletian ;  and  in  later  times  is  the  subject 
of  a  special  panegyric  in  the  brilliant  pages  of  the  historian 
of  the  Decline  and  Fall.  To  Decius  the  presence  of  the 
Christians  in  Rome  and  in  all  the  provinces,  their  numbers 
and  increasing  influence,  seemed  one  of  the  principal  causes 
of  the  deterioration  of  the  Empire;  and  early  in  his  reign 
he  promulgated  a  persecuting  edict,  the  severest  that  had 
yet  been  issued  by  the  Roman  Government.  The  text  of 
the  edict  has  not  been  preserved,  but  its  purport  is  well  known. 
Its  intention  was  evidently  their  extermination  throughout 
the  Empire.  To  slay  them  was  of  course,  considering  their 
vast  numbers,  not  practicable ;  but  every  possible  means  was 
to  be  adopted  to  induce  the  Christians  to  return  to  the  Official 
Religion  of  the  Empire.  Gentle  means  of  persuasion  were  to 
be  used  at  first,  then  severe  measures  were  to  be  resorted  to. 
The  profession  of  the  hated  religion  was  to  be  rendered  im- 
possible. The  edict  was  far-reaching;  its  provision  affected  all 
ranks — all  ages.     It  was  to  run  in  Rome  and  the  provinces  alike. 

There  was  no  delay  in  putting  ^the  stern  decree  into 
execution.  Early  in  the  year  250  the  Christian  communities 
were  startled  at  the  news  of  the  martyrdom  of  Fabian, 
Bishop  of  Rome.  Of  the  other  chiefs  of  the  proscribed  sect, 
the  Bishops  of  Antioch  and  Jerusalem  died  soon  in  prison, 
Dionysius,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  was  only  saved  by  flight, 
Origen,  the  greatest  living  Christian  teacher,  was  subjected 
to  cruel  torture. 


FROM    JDEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  347 

We  have  chosen  to  speak  more  particuhirly  of  Carthage, 
where  Cyprian  had  just  been  elected  bishop,  as  the  repre- 
sentative cit}^  at  this  juncture.  When  the  order  for  persecution 
arrived  in  the  great  North  African  capital  the  terror  was 
widespread.  It  affected  all  classes  in  the  Christian  population. 
Anyone  might  be  summoned  and  required  at  once  to  sacrifice, 
and  apparently  many  were  brought  to  submission. 

It  is  not  improbable,  considering  the  numbers  who  were 
called  upon  in  Carthage  to  declare  "  for  Paganism,"  that  a 
general  solemn  "  supplicatio "  was  arranged,  to  which  all 
citizens  were  summoned,  and  that  thus  it  would  be  seen  at 
once  who  would  submit  and  who  would  resist.  At  all  events 
the  immediate  result  was  the  imprisonment  of  a  considerable 
number  of  Christians,  who  were  cruelly  dealt  with — confisca- 
tion of  their  property,  rigorous  imprisonment  and  torture, 
and  in  some  cases  even  death,  quickly  following  upon  the 
arrest. 

Those  who  were  steadfast,  who  endured  any  loss  or 
suffering  sooner  than  apostatise,  require  no  special  mention ; 
they  only  followed  in  the  steps  of  the  brave  confessors  who 
in  the  successive  persecutions  for  the  past  186  years  had,  by 
their  steadfast  endurance,  been  at  once  the  strength  and  the 
glory  of  Christianity.  But  in  this  Decian  persecution  in  the 
sad  year  250  there  were  a  great  number  of  Christians  whose 
courage  failed  them,  and  who,  to  escape  the  loss  of  their 
goods,  to  free  themselves  from  the  penalties  attached  to  the 
profession  of  their  faith,  consented  to  sacrifice,  to  burn  incense, 
or,  strange  to  say,  to  purchase  certificates  {libdli)  which  officially 
declared  that  they  had  sacrificed  or  burnt  incense  before  the 
altar  of  the  "  Divine  Emperor "  or  some  other  deity  of 
Home. 

It  was  a  novel  experience  in  the  story  of  the  Church, 
this  quick  surrender  on  the  part  of  Christians,  this  ready 
denial  of  their  faith,  this  strange  submission  to  the  gods  of 
Rome ;  an  experience  as  sad  and  grievous  as  it  was  unique. 

We  have  not  to  search  long  before  we  find  the  causes  of 
this  falling  away  of  so  many  in  the  first  hour  of  stern  trial. 
For   some  thirty-eight  years,  save   for   the   brief  interlude   of 


348  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

fitful  persecution  in  tlie  reign  of  Maximinus,  all  persecution 
for  the  Name's  sake  had  been  unknown.  For  the  first  time 
since  the  dread  hour  when  the  officers  of  Nero  laid  violent 
hands  on  the  Christians  of  Rome,  the  followers  of  Jesus  had 
for  a  lengthened  period  enjoyed  quiet  and  stillness,  had 
been  allowed  to  worship  as  they  chose,  had  been  permitted 
openly  to  call  themselves  by  the  name  of  Him  they  loved. 
When  the  Decian  storm  broke  over  them  only  very  old  men 
could  remember  the  days  of  severe  trial  in  the  early  years 
of  the  century;  indeed,  to  the  contemporaries  of  Cyprian 
persecution  was  rather  a  tradition  than  an  experience.  During 
the  long  stillness  in  many  quarters  laxity  of  living  had 
replaced  the  old  gravity  and  austerity  of  the  Christian  life 
lived  so  long  amid  the  stress  and  storm  of  daily  peril  and 
awful  risk.  Church  discipline  had  become  in  many  centres 
sadly  relaxed. 

The  bishops  in  many  instances,  while  enjoying  the  privileges 
of  their  rank  in  the  community,  had  become  engrossed  in 
the  pleasures  and  business  of  the  life  in  the  midst  of  which 
they  lived.  Some  had  devoted  themselves  to  agriculture, 
some  to  commerce,  some  to  banking  and  even  to  usury. 
Not  unknown  in  the  Church  circles  of  the  middle  of  the 
third  century  were  even  immoral  chief  pastors.  Some  of  the 
North  African  bishops  were  positively  notorious  for  their 
share  in  the  slave  trade  of  the  Sahara!  Ignorance,  too,  of 
the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  faith  was  not 
unknown  among  the  Church  leaders.  "  Cold  and  dark  are 
the  shades  Avhich  are  flung  athwart  the  bright  tracts  and 
around  the  glowing  lights  of  the  scenes  of  this  early  Church 
life.  If  it  were  possible  for  such  men  to  be  bishops  we  can 
understand  how  among  their  proselytes  they  tolerated  the 
makers  of  idols  and  the  compounders  of  incense,  or  among 
their  laity  astrologers  and  theatrical  trainers."  * 

These  gloomy  pictures  of  the  Church  of  this  period  are 
drawn  mainly  from  the  epistles  of  Cyprian  and  the  treatises 
of  Augustine,  Bishop  of  Hippo,  who  wrote  about  a  century 
and  a  half  later. 

*  Archbishop  Benson :  Cyprian,  i.   10. 


FROM  BECIU8    TO    DIOGLETIAK  3i9 

It  is  easy  to  understand  how,  in  a  Church  which  contained 
such  unworthy  members,  some  of  them,  even  bearers  of  high 
office  in  the  congregation,  would,  at  the  first  blast  of  a  vigorous 
persecution,  fall  away,  and  for  the  salce  of  preserving  life  and 
all  that  made  life  pleasant,  would  deny  the  Name  for  which 
their  fathers  had  so  gladly  died. 

Cyprian,  we  read,  was  appalled  at  the  first  rush  of  faith- 
less members  of  his  flock  to  the  Forum  of  Carthage  or  the 
temples  of  the  gods  to  sacrifice  and  to  burn  incense  at  the 
heathen  altars,  and  so,  at  what  seemed  an  easy  concession, 
purchase  safety  and  immunity.  What  happened  at  Carthage 
was  repeated  at  Rome  and  Alexandria,  and  in  other  great 
centres  of  the  Empire.  It  was  even  asserted,  though  no  doubt 
with  exaggeration,  that  the  majority  of  the  Christians  fell 
away  at  this  awful  moment  of  trial. 

The  deserters  from  the  cause  were  divided  into  two  classes. 
Those  who  sacrificed  and  burnt  incense  at  the  altars  of  the 
gods  "  Sacrificati "  and  "  Thurificati,"  and  those  who,  for  a  sum 
of  money,  large  or  small,  purchased  from  the  Imperial  magis- 
trates certificates  {libelli),  that  they  had  satisfied  the  officials 
of  the  State  of  their  "orthodox  State  Paganism."  These  last 
were  generally  known  as  Libellatics,  LihellaticL  From  the 
accounts  we  possess  of  the  subsequent  trouble  in  the  Christian 
Church  in  dealing  with  these  "  lapsed  Christians  "  who  wished 
to  be  received  again  into  communion  with  the  Church,  a 
great  number  of  these  libelli,'^  or  certificates  of  Paganism, 
must  have  been  issued. 

The  reaction,  however,  soon  came,  and  was  remarkable. 
Numbers  of  those  who  in  the  first  moment  of  the  terror  had 
fallen  away  and  had  consented  to  sacrifice,  or  to  purchase 
safety  by  means  of  a  libellus  from  the  State  authorities, 
begged  to  be  admitted  once  more  to  communion  with  the 
Church    they   had   for   a   moment   denied.      It   was    a    grave 

*  From  the  passages  referring  to  the  "  Lapsi "  in  the  writings  of  Cyprian 
and  Augustine  there  appear  to  have  been  two  forms  of  these  libeUi :  the  m.u'e 
usual  being  a  certificate  issued  by  the  Eoman  magistrate  to  the  Christian,  stating 
that  the  recipient  was  a  Pagan  in  the  State  sense,  and  the  second  form  being 
a  document  given  by  the  Christian  himself,  stating  that  he  had  formally  denied 
Christ,  and  had  adopted  the  Pagan  citltus. 


350  EARLY    GHEISTIANITT   AND    PAGANISM. 

difficulty  how  these  repentant  ones  were  to  be  treated.  Some 
of  them  vokmtarily  reappeared  before  the  Imperial  tribunal, 
defied  the  edict,  and  gladly  received  the  punishment  of 
confiscation,  exile,  or  even  death ;  others  in  silence  and  in 
secret  renounced  their  weakness,  and  tried  by  a  life  of  peni- 
tence to  atone  for  their  sin.  Many  of  these  availed  them- 
selves of  a  strange  privilege,  claimed  by  those  who  had  played 
a  braver  part  in  the  persecution,  who  for  the  Name's  sake 
had  suffered  the  spoiling  of  their  goods,  had  endured  im- 
prisonment and  torture,  and  now  lay  in  prison  waiting  for 
death.  This  was  the  right  of  at  once  restoring  "  lapsed " 
persons  to  all  the  privileges  of  Church  communion.  It  is 
not  known  how  long  this  claim  to  a  singular  power  or  privilege 
had  existed;  probably  it  dated  far  back,  and  had  its  origin 
in  the  extraordinary  honour  ever  paid  to  confessors  of  the 
Faith.  Any  request  made  by  such  brave  and  constant  ones 
would  no  doubt  always  be  reverently  lisLened  to.  But  in 
the  Decian  persecution,  when  so  many  fell  away,  the  claim 
was  obviou.sly  liable  to  gross  abuse. 

This  usage  prevailed  in  other  centres  in  Egypt  and  in 
Asia,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  Rome ;  but  it  was  in  Carthage 
that  it  was  most  apparent.*  There  the  confessors  in  prison 
were  literally  besieged  by  crowds  of  the  "  Lapsi "  begging  for 
"  Letters  of  Peace "  and  reconciliation.  There  was  only  one 
in  that  harassed  and  half-ruined  community  of  Carthage 
whose  voice  would  be  listened  to  in  this  hour  of  confusion 
and  dismay,  and  he  was  in  exile.  The  thoughts  of  all  serious, 
anxious  Christians  in  the  North  African  province  turned  to 
Cyprian,  the   Bishop   of    Carthage,  who,    when    the    edict    of 


*  A  very  strong  and  remarkable  passage  on  this  claim  of  confessors  to  be  able 
to  forgive  grave  sin  occurs  in  TertuUian's  treatise,  De  Piidicitia,  C.  22,  written 
a  good  many  years  before  the  Decian  persecution.  "  Suppose  now  your  martyr 
beneath  the  sword,  with  head  already  poised  for  the  blow  ;  suppose  him  on  the 
cross,  with  body  already  outstretched ;  suppose  him  at  the  stake  with  the  lion 
already  'let  loose;  on  the  axle-tree  with  the  fire  already  heaped,  in  the  very 
certainty,  I  say,  and  possession  of  martyrdom,  who  permits  (the  Church)  to 
condone  offences  which  are  reserved  for  God,  offences  which  not  even  Apostles 
have  judged  condonable  ?  .  .  .  Let  it  suffice  the  martyr  to  purge  his  own 
sins." 


FROM   DEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  351 

Decius  was  put  out,  bad  withdrawn  himself^  for  a  season 
from  the  city,  and  from  a  temporary  retirement  watched  the 
storm,  and  helped  to  guide  his  harassed  Church  in  its  moment 
of  extreme  ditficuhy  and  danger. 

The  great  bishop  from  bis  retirement  was  dismayed  at 
this  claim  on  the  part  of  the  imprisoned  confessors — he 
viewed  it  as  calculated  to  destroy  all  discipline  in  the  Church 
and  as  capable  of  being  used  most  mischievously,  and  he 
wrote  that  as  soon  as  possible  a  Council  of  Bishops  should 
be  assembled  at  Carthage  and  at  Rome,  who  would  examine 
the  whole  question  of  the  unhappy  "  Lapsi,"  and  devise  a 
wise  and  gracious  method  by  which  those  who  earnestly 
desired  it  might  be  restored  to  communion. 

The  opportunity  soon  came.  The  life  and  reign  of 
Decius  came  to  an  end  in  a  battle  during  the  campaign 
which  the  Emperor  had  undertaken  against  the  Goths,  who 
were  sorely  pressing  the  Empire  on  its  eastern  frontier,  and 
for  some  months  confusion  prevailed  at  Rome. 

During  the  months  of  confusion  which  followed  the  death 
of  Decius  on  the  field  of  battle  the  persecuting  edict  of  that 
Emperor,  although  not  cancelled,  was  no  longer  pressed ;  and 
gradually  once  again  a  partial  "  stillness "  was  enjoyed  by 
the  harassed  Church.  Cyprian  returned  to  Carthage,  and 
without  delay  summoned  the  bishops  of  his  important 
province  to  what  is  known  as  Cyprian's  First  Council  of 
Carthage.     The  date  was  a.d.  251. 

The  question  of  the  treatment  of  the  "  Lapsed  "  was  carefully 

*  Cyprian's  retirement  in  this  fiery  persecution  of  Decius  has  been  variously 
commented  upon.  He  was  proscribed  by  name,  and  his  death  would  have  deprived 
the  Christians  of  North  Africa  of  the  one  leader  thej'  possessed,  on  whose  com- 
manding genius  they  relied  for  advice  and  guidance.  Cyprian  was  well  aware  of 
this,  and  for  the  Church's  sake  withdrew  from  the  scene  of  action,  conscious  that 
his  life,  not  his  death,  would  be  of  most  service  in  "the  terror."  His  absolute 
fearlessness  of  death,  however,  was  shown  some  six  years  later,  when  he  felt  that 
things  were  more  settled  and  in  better  order,  and  that  the  great  example  of  the 
Bishop  of  Carthage  dying  for  the  Xame  would  be  the  best  thing  for  the  Church, 
So  in  A.D.  257-8,  about  six  years  after  the  events  of  which  we  are  now  speaking, 
when  the  persecution  of  the  Emperor  Valerian  lay  heavy  on  Carthage,  resisting 
all  entreaties  to  fly,  Cyprian  quietly  remained  to  die.  His  martyrdom  will  be 
presently  related. 


352  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

gone  into.  The  bishops  and  presbyters  who  had  sacrificed, 
or  who  had  procured  certificates  (libelli)  of  comphance  with 
the  State  commands  as  expressed  in  the  Imperial  edict,  were 
deposed  at  once  from  their  functions. 

The  laity  who  had  obtained  certificates,  the  class  of 
Libellatici  generally,  were  treated  with  much  consideration, 
and  were  generally  allowed  to  return  to  communion  after  a 
period  of  penance.  An  inquiry  into  each  case  of  apostasy 
was,  however,  directed,  which  determined  the  period  of 
penance.  Those  who  had  actually  sacrificed  were  not  to  be 
received  until  the  hour  of  death,  and  then  only  if  they  had 
continued  penitent.  It  seems,  though  this  is  not  quite 
clear,  that  in  many  cases  this  last  severity  was  subsequently 
mitigated  or  set  aside,  and  none  were  eventually  excluded 
from  returning  to  communion  with  the  Church.  The  Roman 
Church*  accepted  the  wise,  and  on  the  whole  merciful  ruling 
of  Cyprian  and  his  Council,  which  indeed  was  generally 
followed  in  all  the  other  great  Churches. 

This  Council  of  Carthage,  under  the  influence  of  Cyprian, 
ignored  the  interference  of  the  confessors  in  the  matter  of 
the  reconciliation  of  the  "  Lapsi."  Such  an  irregular  inter- 
ference was  considered,  and  rightly,  a  serious  danger  to  any 
well-ordered  system  of  organisation.  (The  principle  of 
"merits"  of  certain  saintly  persons  swppleraenting  the  in- 
sufficiency of  others,  curiously  reappears,  in  another  form, 
in  the  later  history  of  the  Church  in  the  mediaeval  doctrine 
of  "  indulgences.") 

No  grateful  praise  is  out  of  place  for  Cjrprian's  merciful 
work  in  this  difficult  question  of  the  restoration  of  the 
erring.  It  passed  into  the  code  which  has  since  regulated 
the  dealings  of  the  Catholic  Church  with  sinners.  No  sin, 
however  great,  is  beyond  the  hope  of  pardon. 

The  great  Bishop  of  Carthage  at  this  time  put  out  several 

*  There  was  a  party  in  Eome  which  persistently  took  a  far  severer  view  of  the 
"  Lapsi,"  and  refused  to  receive  again  into  communion  any  of  the  apostates.  The 
head  of  this  party  was  one  Novatian,  who  became  a  schismatical  Bishop  of  Eom«. 
This  grave  schism,  its  widespread  influence,  and  its  long  continuance,  will  be 
noticed  further  on  when  the  story  of  the  Church  at  Rome  is  related  in  detail. 


FROM  DEGIUS    TO    BIOGLETIAN.  353 

important  treatises  on  the  subject.  Some  of  liis  wise  and 
generous  conclusions  were  several  times  repeated  or  quoted 
by  Augustine,  writing  some  century  and  a  half  later.  With 
Cyprian  it  was  clear  that  "  no  human  right  exists  to  eradicate 
tares,  or  to  break  the  poorest  earthen  vessels  in  pieces. 
Perfect  freedom  to  become  good  corn,  or  (using  another 
image)  for  the  earthen  vessel  to  make  a  golden  urn  of  itself, 
belongs  to  every  soul."  It  was  a  gracious  and  authoritative 
exposition  of  the  Lord's  parable  of  the  tares,-  and  one  which 
the  Catholic  Church  has  written  for  ever  in  its  Rule  of  Life. 
The  hope  of  restoration  and  reconciliation  through  the 
Lamb's  precious  blood  is  the  priceless  inheritance  of  every 
penitent  sinner. 

In  a  passage  of  the  treatise  De  Lapsis,  c.  16,  beautiful 
as  it  is  true,  Cyprian  thus  inveighs  against  those  stern 
puritans  who  would  shut  to  sinners  the  blessed  door  of 
hope.  "The  solace  of  everlasting  life  they  steal  away,  uproot 
the  tree  .  .  .  wreck  the  ship  ere  it  enter  the  haven  .  .  . 
they  then  assail  anew  the  fallen,  silencing  their  sorrows, 
hushing  the  sobbing  heart,  disregarding  the  weeping  eyes, 
drowning  the  entreaties  of  long  and  intense  repentance 
toward  a  deeply  offended  Lord — and  all  the  while  it  stands 
written,  '  Remember  from  whence  thou  art  fallen  and  repent.' " 

The  lull  in  the  persecution  which  followed  the  death  of  the 
Emperor  Decius  was  but  of  short  duration.  The  circumstances 
under  which  it  recommenced  under  his  successor,  the  Emperor 
Gallus,  were  singular. 

The  plague  was  no  unknown  scourge  in  the  early  centuries 
of  the  Christian  era.  In  the  years  66,  67,  80,  this  fearful 
malady  had  appeared  and  re-appeared  in  the  Empire.  From 
the  end  of  the  second  century  it  was  ever  present  in  one  or 
other  of  the  provinces.  In  the  middle  of  the  third  century 
the  pest  had  attained  vast  proportions,  and  for  some  twenty 
years   we  hear  of  its  ravages   in  all  parts  of  the  Empire.     It 

*  S.  Jerome  well  writes :  "  Monemur,  ne  cito  amputemus  fratrem,  quia 
fieri  potest,  ut  ille,  qui  hodie  noxio  depravatus  est  dogmate,  eras  resipiscat,  et 
defendere  incii^iat  veritatem "  ;  and  compare  Aixhbishop  Benson,  S.  Cyprian, 
chap.  iii. 

X 


354  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

seems  to  have  been  a  malignant  class  of  typhoid  fever, 
accompanied  by  many  distressing  and  dangerous  complications, 
very  infections  and  often  terribly  fatal  to  its  countless  victims, 
and  tending  to  return  more  than  once  to  centres  which  it 
had  already  desolated.  In  a.d.  261,  for  instance,  it  made  its 
appearance  for  the  second  time  in  Alexandria,  and  in  four 
years,  we  read,  it  had  reduced  the  population  of  that  great 
city  by  about  one-half.  In  a.d.  262  it  is  computed  that 
while  it  was  at  its  worst  in  Rome  about  5,000  persons  died 
daily  in  the  capital  city.  In  the  year  252  it  made  its  appear- 
ance at  Carthage,  where  its  ravages  were  terrible.  The  effect 
of  this  frightful  scourge  upon  the  Pagan  citizens  of  the 
Empire  seems  to  have  been  grievous.  The  worst  passions  of 
men  were  stirred  up.  The  sick  were  uncared  for  ;  selfish  greed, 
unbridled  lust  and  disorder,  reigned  unchecked  ;  physical 
terror  became  the  dominant  feeling  in  life.  A  city  when 
attacked  by  the  fearful  malady  became  a  vast  charnel  house ; 
everywhere  men  only  seemed  to  care  for  their  own  safety, 
while  crime  and  all  manner  of  wrong- doing  increased  with 
incredible  rapidity.  The  ordinary  government  was  paralysed 
in  the  presence  of  the  universal  terror. 

In  striking  contrast  to  the  selfishness  and  shameful  excesses 
of  the  Pagan  population  was  the  behaviour  of  the  Christian 
communities  in  these  dread  seasons.  A  wonderful  picture,  for 
instance,  is  preserved  to  us  of  the  courage  and  devotion  of 
the  believers  of  Alexandria  when  the  plague  visited  the  great 
Egyptian  centre  some  nine  years  later  than  the  visitation  of 
Carthage.  There,  under  the  influence  and  example  of  the 
bishop,  the  celebrated  Dionysius,  the  Christians  showed  a 
noble  pattern  of  self-sacrifice.  In  their  tender  care  for  their 
stricken  brother  or  sister  they  disregarded  all  heed  of  self  by 
even  recklessly,  as  it  seems,  exposing  themselves  in  their  loving 
ministration  to  the  deadly  infection.  The  words  of  the  great 
Bishop  Dionysius,  quoted  by  Eusebius  {H.  E.,  vii.  22),  are 
of  singular  interest :  "  Indeed,  the  most  of  our  brethren  by 
their  exceeding  great  love  and  brotherly  affection,  not  sparing 
themselves,  and  adhering  to  one  another,  were  constantly 
watching   the   sick,    ministering   to   their   wants   without    fear 


FROM   BE  cms    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  355 

and  without  cessation,  and  healing  them  in  Christ,  have 
departed  most  sweetly  with  them."  And  further  on  he  adds  : 
"  The  best  of  our  brethren  indeed  have  departed  life  in  this 
way,  some  indeed  presbyters,  some  deacons,  and  of  the  people 
those  that  were  exceedingly  commended.  So  that  this  very 
form  of  death,  with  the  piety  and  ardent  faith  which  accom- 
panied it,  appeared  to  be  but  little  inferior  to  martj^rdom 
itself.  They  took  up  the  bodies  of  the  saints  with  their 
hands,  and  on  their  bosoms  cleaned  their  eyes  and  closed 
their  mouths,  carried  them  on  their  shoulders  and  composed 
their  limbs,  embraced  them,  clung  to  them,  and  prepared 
them  carefully  (for  the  grave)  with  washing  and  garments, 
and  ere  long  they  themselves  shared  in  receiving  the  same 
offices,  those  that  survived  always  following  those  before 
them." 

But  self-sacrificing  and  devoted  as  were  the  ministrations 
of  the  members  of  the  Christian  communities  of  Alexandria 
and  other  gi-eat  plague-stricken  centres  of  population  to  their 
brethren  in  the  Faith,  the  teaching  and  example  of  Cjrprian 
when  the  terrible  pestilence  was  raging  at  Carthage  struck  a 
new  note  of  pity.  Pontius,  his  deacon  and  biographer,  tells 
us  how  Cyprian  urged  upon  his  flock  that  to  help  their  own 
people  was,  after  all,  but  an  act  of  slender  merit ;  the  perfect 
Christian  must  pray  for  all  alike,  must  minister  to  all  alike 
in  their  great  need.  There  must  be  no  distinction  of  person, 
no  inquiry  as  to  creed ;  the  Pagan  and  the  persecutor  must  be 
succoured  as  well  as  the  fellow-Christian.  The  believer  must 
live  up"^  to  his  name  and  his  glorious  ancestry,  he  must 
remember  that  God's  sun  shines  for  all,  and  His  rain  falls  on 
the  fields  of  the  just  and  the  unjust  alike.  The  servant  of 
God,  then,  must  surely  follow  his  Lord's  example. 

Such  teaching  had  never  been  heard  since  the  living  voice 
of  Jesus  had  ceased  to  speak  to  men.  And  the  words  of 
Cyprian  of  Carthage  have  never  been  forgotten.  His  teaching 
here,  Christlike  as  it  was  generous,  has  been  followed  by  every 
Christian  nation  on  the  earth,  and  the  countless  hospitals  of 

*  The  striking  words  of  Pontius  are  worth  quoting  here :  "  Eespondere  nos 
decet  natalibus  nostris"  (Pontius,    Vita   djp.,  9). 


356  EARLY    GHRI8TIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  world,  mainly  the  outcome  of  the  devotion  and  love  of 
the  followers  of  Christ,  minister  to  all  sufferers,  simply 
regardless   of  race   or   creed. 

Yet  for  their  devotion  and  self-sacrifice  the  Christians  of 
Carthage  received  but  a  sorry  guerdon.  The  Emperor  Galius, 
dismayed  at  the  progress  of  the  plague,  thought  to  avert  the 
evident  anger  of  the  gods  of  Rome  by  means  of  solemn  public 
sacrifices  throughout  the  Empire.  The  non-attendance  of 
Christians  at  these  Pagan  celebrations  excited  the  anger  of 
the  multitude,  who  once  more  fancied  that  the  wrath  of  the 
immortals  was  evoked  b}^  the  teaching  and  practices  of  the 
mighty  sect  growing  up  in  their  midst  who  taught  men  to 
shun  their  altars.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  general  per- 
secution, which  had  died  away  when  Decius  perished,  flamed 
up  anew,  and  the  Decian  edict,  which  had  never  been  revoked, 
was  again  set  in  force;  while  in  Carthage,  where  a  singularly 
famous  Christian  teacher  swayed  a  gi-eat  community  by  the 
magic  of  his  words  and  the  splendid  devotion  of  his  acts,  the 
menacing  cry  was  heard,  "  To  the  lions  with  Cyprian  ! " 

The  persecution  of  Galius,  though  sharp  and  general,  was 
but  of  short  duration ;  for  once  more  a  military  revolt  put  an 
end  to  the  Emperor's  reign  and  life.  And  the  legions,  who 
made  and  unmade  at  their  fickle  pleasure  the  lords  of  the 
Roman  world,  saluted  as  Emperor  Valerian  the  Censor,  who 
had  first  come  into  public  notice  in  the  reign  of  Decius.  The 
new  Sovereign  was  at  first  kindly  disposed  to  his  Christian 
subjects.  It  is  noteworthy  that,  in  distinction  from  the 
Decian  persecution,  no  "  Lapsi  "  seemed  to  have  dishonoured 
the  Name  and  to  have  degraded  the  profession  of  Christians 
in  the  stormy  period  which  closed  the  reign  of  Galius,  The 
historian  of  this  anxious  period  in  the  Church's  early  history 
would  be  unjust  if  he  did  not  ascribe  to  the  great  Bishop  of 
Carthage  a  large  share  in  the  re-awakening  of  the  Church  to 
its  imperative  duty  of  bravely  and  patiently  submitting  to  any 
suffering  rather  than  deny  the  Name. 

A  considerable  period  of  quiet  was  enjoyed  by  the  believers 
in  Jesus  after  the  accession  of  the  Censor  Valerian  to  the 
throne,    a.d.    253.      Dionysius,   Bishop   of  Alexandria   (quoted 


FROM   DEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  357 

by  Eusebius,  H.  E.,  vii.  10),  writes  thus  strongly  of  the 
favourable  disposition  of  this  Emperor  towards  Christianity  in 
the  earlier  years  of  his  reign:  "Kind  and  fi'iendly  he  was 
towards  the  pious  (Christians).  For  there  was  never  any  of 
the  Emperors  before  him  so  favourably  and  benevolently 
disposed  towards  them  ;  not  even  those  who  were  openly  said 
to  be  Christians  received  them  with  such  extreme  courtesy  and 
friendship  as  did  he  at  the  commencement  of  his  reign.  All 
his  house  was  filled  with  pious  persons ;  it  was  indeed  a  con- 
gregation {eKKk'qa-la)  of  the  Lord.  But  the  Master  and  Chief 
Ruler  of  the  Egyptian  Magi,  Macrianus  (who  became  Valerian's 
chief  adviser) ,  persuaded  him  to  abandon  this  course,  exhorting 
him  to  persecute  and  to  slay  these  pure  and  holy  men." 

Before  the  change  in  Valerian's  policy  some  two  or  three 
years  of  quietness  remained  for  Cyprian  to  impress  upon 
the  men  of  his  time  his  theory  of  Christian  unity,  his  grand 
conception  of  the  work  and  office  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
About  a  century  and  a  quarter  after  the  martj^rdom  of  Cyprian, 
one  of  the  e^reatest  orators  and  theolog^ians  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  somewhile  bishop  of  the 
Metropolitan  See  of  Constantinople,  in  one  of  his  famous 
orations,  delivered  in  the  capital  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  in 
glowing  words  thus  describes  the  commanding  influence  which 
Cyprian  had  acquired  in  the  Church  at  large,  the  mighty 
love  and  devotion  he  had  gained  over  men's  hearts  far  and 
near :  "  Not  over  the  Church  of  Carthage  alone  does  he 
preside,  nor  yet  over  the  Church  of  Africa,  famous  until  now 
from  him  and  through  him,  but  over  all  the  Western  Church, 
nay  and  almost  the  Eastern  Church  itself,  and  over  the 
bounds  of  South  and  North.  .  .  .  Thus  Cyprian  becomes 
our  own.  .  .  .  The  very  remembrance  of  the  man  is  a 
sanctification."  This  was  the  estimate  of  one  of  the  chiefest 
of  Eastern  theologians ;  while,  in  the  West,  only  a  very  few 
years  later,  the  great  Augustine,  one  of  his  passionate  admirers 
and  followers,  speaks  of  him  in  these  terms :  "  If  my  sins 
do  not  disable  me,  I  will  learn  if  I  can  from  Cyprian's 
writings,  assisted  by  his  prayers,,  with  what  peace  and  consola- 
tion the  Lord  governed  His  Church  through  him." 


368  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

It  is  singular  that  the  name  of  this  most  eminent  Christian 
leader,  who  Avas  deservedly  held  in  highest  honour  in  the 
Churches  of  his  own  day,  whose  posthumous  fame  is  even 
greater,  whose  work  and  influence  have  been  generally  so 
enduring,  is  connected  with  the  advocacy  of  one  grave  error, 
an  error  which  has  been  universally  condemned  in  the  Church 
of  the  West. 

In  the  three  Councils  of  Carthage  held  under  the  presidency 
of  Cyprian  in  the  years  of  quietness,  255  and  256,  a  prominent 
question  was  brought  before  the  assembled  bishops  of  the 
Province,  who  numbered  in  one  of  their  Councils  as  many 
as  eighty- seven — "Was  it  right  to  re-baptise  heretics?"  The 
North  African  Church,  under  the  direction  of  their  gi^eat 
bishop,  formally  answered  the  question  in  the  affirmative, 
denying  the  validity  of  baptism  not  only  by  heretics  but 
also  by  schismatics  (under  schismatics  Cyprian  included 
separatist  sects  like  that  of  the  Novatians).  On  this  question, 
which  so  seriously  agitated  the  Catholic  Church  and  for  a 
while  divided  it  into  two  opposing  camps,  hangs  a  most 
important  principle,  which,  owing  to  the  discussions  which 
arose,  largely  as  the  result  of  Cyprian's  action,  has  been  happily 
settled  once  for  all,  certainly  as  far  as  regards  the  whole 
Western  Church,^  The  principle  is  so  weighty  a  one  that 
it  will  be  worth  our  while  very  briefly  to  discuss  it. 

To  insist  upon  re-baptism,  even  though  the  simple  divine 
ritual  t  had  been  complied  with,  would  imply  that  the  grace 
of  the  sacrament  was  given  not  by  virtue  of  the  sacrament, 
but  by  the  merit  of  him  who  ministers  it.  Generally  speak- 
ing, the  early  Church  determined  against  any  repetition  of 
baptism.  This  rule  was  followed  by  the  majority  of  the  early 
heretics ;  re-baptism  appears  to  have  been  practised  only 
among  the  followers  of  Marcion.  But  C}^rian  in  his  con- 
tention was  supported  by  some  weighty  precedents  and 
important   authorities.      In   the  middle   of  the   third   century 

*  The  Greek  Church  has  taken  a  middle  course,  rejecting  heretical  hut 
admitting  sehismatical  baptism. 

t  That  is  to  say  "with  water"  in  the  name  of  the  ever  blessed  Trinity, 
as  commanded  by  our  Lord  Himself. 


FROM   DEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  359 

the  point  at  issue  had  not  been  formally  decided,  nor  had 
any  substantial  agreement  on  the  subject  been  come  to. 
But  such  was  the  generous  breadth  of  the  man,  that  although 
he  was  very  definite  in  his  teaching  here,  he  never  dreamed 
of  severing  the  connection  or  of  interrupting  the  communion 
which  existed  between  his  own  North  Afi-ican  Church  and 
the  Churches  which  he  considered  to  be  in  error  in  this 
matter. 

C}'prian  apparently  rested  on  the  pronouncement  of  an 
important  Council  of  some  seventy  African  and  Numidian 
bishops  under  one  of  his  predecessors,  Agrippinus,'^  circa 
A.D.  213,  which  had  settled  the  use  of  the  North  African 
Church  in  this  particular.  Tertullian,  ever  a  very  weighty 
authority  mtli  Cyprian,  as  might  have  been  expected  from 
the  well-known  bias  of  his  mind,  had  some  years  before 
declared  the  re-baptism  of  heretics  to  be  necessary.  Further 
afield,  Cyprian  was  supported  by  Firmilian,  Bishop  of  Csesarea, 
the  chief  see  of  Cappadocia.  Firmilian's  was  an  important 
opinion.  He  was  not  only  the  chief  bishop  of  a  large  and 
important  province,  but  in  his  day  (the  middle  of  the  third 
century)  ranked  high  among  the  chiefs  of  Christendom,  his 
name  standing  first  in  Eusebius'  roll  of  the  great  contemporary 
Church  rulers  (H.  E.,  vii.  28). 

Firmilian,  in  his  letter  on  this  subject,  alludes  to  the 
Councils  of  Iconium  and  Synnada  as  holding  the  C}^rianic 
theory  of  re-baptism.  There  were  fifty  bishops  attending  the 
latter  of  these  gatherings.  Synnada  was  an  important  Phrygian 
centre.  In  the  Greek  see  of  Alexandria,  Dionysius,  another 
bishop  of  commanding  influence  in  that  age,  was  evidently 
uncertain  on  the  question,  and  his  ruling  on  different  occasions 
on  this  point  does  not  appear  to  have  been  consistent.  The 
Alexandrian  was  a  broad  and  tolerant  prelate,  and  apparently 
would  have  left  each  community  to  continue  to  observe  its 
own  traditional  usage. 

*  S.  Vincent  of  Lerins  {circa  a.d.  430)  writes  that  this  Bishop  AgrippLnus 
was  the  first  of  all  mortals  to  rule  that  they  who  had  heen  baptised  by  schis- 
matics must  be  again  baptised  before  they  could  become  Catholics. — Com- 
monitorium,  1-6. 


360  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

But  on  the  otlier  hand,  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  the  person 
of  its  Bishop,  Stephen,  knew  its  mind.  Stephen  emphatically 
condemned  the  practice  of  ever  re-baptising,  supposing  the 
divine  ritual  had  beeii  originally  adhered  to ;  he  asserted 
that  his  Church  possessed  here  the  apostolic  authority  of  a 
distinct  tradition ;  and,  according  to  Firmilian,  he  even  went 
so  far  as  to  accuse  Cyprian,  in  his  teaching  of  the  necessity 
of  a  re-baptism  in  the  cases  of  heretics  and  schismatics,  of 
being  a  false  apostle  and  a  treacherous  worker. 

The  conclusion  of  this  sharp  and  acrimonious  dispute  on 
a  question  which,  though  it  has  long  ceased  to  divide  Christian 
theologians,  involved  a  principle  of  the  highest  importance, 
has  been  admirably  summed  up  by  one  who  has  made  Cyprian 
and  his  work  a  life-study,  and  who,  while  passionately  admiring 
the  great  bishop,  has  not  allowed  this  admiration  for  one 
instant  to  cloud  his  judgment  of  Cyprian's  error.  "  How 
great,"  he  suggests,  "  was  the  triumph  of  Stephen  of  Rome ! " 
The  contention  of  Cyprian  "  was  backed,"  he  reminds  us,  "  by 
an  army  of  prelates,  whom  he  rather  restrained  than  stimulated, 
moving  as  one  man  to  his  direction,  yet  with  an  independence 
which  threw  each  upon  himself  for  his  argument.  .  .  .  No 
Council  assembled  to  support  him  (Stephen  of  Rome) ; 
Alexandria  (Dionysius)  remonstrated,  Cappadocia  (Firmilian) 
denounced.  His  (Stephen's)  good  cause  was  marred  by  un- 
charity,  passion,  pretentiousness ;  yet  he  triumphed,  and  in 
him  the  Church  of  Rome  triumphed,  as  she  deserved.  For 
she  was  not  the  Church  of  Rome  as  modern  Europe  has 
known  her ;  she  was  the  liberal  Church  then ;  the  Church 
whom  the  Truth  made  free  ;  the  representative  of  secure 
latitude,  charitable  comprehensiveness,  considerate  regulation,""^ 
The  grace  of  Baptism,  according  to  Stephen  of  Rome,  was  of 
Christ,  not  of  the  hitman  baptiser,  or  as  Augustine,  a  century 
and  a  half  after  Stephen  accurately  puts  it,  "Ministers  do 
not  confer  the  gi-ace  of  the  Sacraments,  but  the  Holy  Spirit 
confers  it  through  their  ministry."  f 

*  Archbishop  Benson,  Ci/prian,  viii,  3. 

t  S-  Augiistine,  Be  Baptismo,  contra  Donatistas,  lib.  iv.,    c.  4  :    and  see,  too, 
Contra  Epist.  Farmcniani,  ii.  11. 


FROM   DECIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  361 

The  great  principle  at  stake  defended  by  Stephen  and  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  so  hotly  discussed  in  the  middle  of 
the  third  century,  was  re-affirmed  in  the  closing  century  of 
the  mediaeval  period  by  the  Council  of  Constance  (a.d.  1414- 
1418),  when  it  condemned  the  error  of  Wicldiffe,  who  asserted 
that  no  bishop  or  priest  in  mortal  sin  could  either  baptise 
or  consecrate  (Session  VIII.).  The  Twenty-sixth  Article  of  the 
Church  of  Ens^land,  based  on  the  Eighth  Article  of  the  Con- 
fession  of  Augsburg,  reiterates  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the 
Western  Church  when  it  affirms  that  "  the  grace  of  God's 
gifts  is  not  diminished  from  such  as  by  faith  and  rightly  do 
receive  the  Sacraments  ministered  unto  them,  which  be 
effectual  because  of  Christ's  institution  and  promise,  although 
they  be  ministered  by  evil  men." 

As  regards  Cyprian  and  his  dissension  with  Stephen  of 
Rome,  it  was  quickly  ended,  for  only  a  few  months  after 
Cyprian's  third  Council  held  at  Carthage,  which  again  re- 
affirmed his  views  on  the  necessity  of  a  new  baptism  in  the 
case  of  heretics  and  schismatics,  the  persecution  of  a.d.  257 
burst  over  the  Church  in  many  lands.  Stephen,  his  adversary, 
appears  to  have  been  among  the  first  victims  of  the  persecution 
at  Rome.  Sixtus,  Stephen's  successor,  in  the  same  sad  year 
also  won  the  martyr's  crown,  the  circumstances  of  his  death 
being  singularly  touching.  But  the  feud  between  Rome  and 
Carthage  had  already  evidently  lost  its  bitterness,  for  Pontius, 
Cyprian's  faithful  deacon  and  biographer,  styles  Sixtus  "  a 
good  and  pacific  priest." 

It  is  a  strong  testimony  to  the  greatness  of  Cyprian  and 
the  enduring  character  of  his  work  that  Rome,  not  always 
forgiving,  has  thrown  a  veil  over  his  contest  with  Bishop 
Stephen,  and  in  the  golden  book  of  Saints  has  enrolled  the 
great  Carthaginian  Master,  and  even  commemorates  his  memory 
in  the  Canon  of  the  Mass.* 


*  A  modern  Romanist  scholar  thus  curiously  apologises  for  the  generou.i 
judgment  here  of  his  Church — "  How  great  the  guilt  of  Cyprian  (in  opposing  the 
Bishop  of  Eome)  had  been,  is  known  only  to  God.  His  other  services,  his  martyr- 
dom, atoned  for  it.  But  who  would  rely  on  what  Cyprian,  in  his  hour  of  passion 
and  of  error,  thought  of  the  Papal  Supremacy  ?    .    .    .   And,  oh  !  what  a  warning 


362  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

The  great  change  which  passed  over  Valerian's  pohcy 
towards  the  Christians  after  the  earher  years  of  his  reign  is 
remarkable.  In  spite  of  the  marked  favour  he  had  shown 
them  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  suddenly,  in  the  years 
257  and  258,  cruel  persecuting  edicts  were  put  forth.  These 
were  no  doubt  suggested  by  the  circumstances  of  the  Empire. 
What  has  been  graphically  termed  "The  Uprising  of  the 
Nations"  was  being  painfully  felt.  The  mighty  confederacy 
of  Franks  was  pouring  across  Gaul,  and  even  invading  Spain. 
The  Allemanni  were  breaking  through  the  lines  of  defence  on 
the  Rhine  and  Danube,  and  were  even  threatening  Italy.  The 
Goths  were  a  terror  as  far  south  as  Greece ;  while  in  the 
East,  Mesopotamia  and  Syria  were  swept  across  by  the  Persian 
conquerors,  who  were  soon  to  defeat  and  to  capture  the  Roman 
Emperor  himself 

In  this  period  of  distress  and  general  national  terror  the 
chief  adviser  and  minister  of  Valerian  was  that  Macrianus  whom 
we  have  already  seen  noticed  by  Dionysius,  Bishop  of  Alex- 
andria, as  chief  of  the  Egyptian  Magi,  a  distinguished  soldier 
and  statesman,  possessed  of  vast  wealth,  who  filled  the  post 
of  Chancellor  of  the  Imperial  Exchequer.  To  his  advice  is 
generally  attributed  Valerian's  persecution  of  the  Christians. 

Like  earlier  statesmen,  he  saw  in  their  attitude  towards  the 
Pagan  religion  an  element  of  disruption,  at  a  time  when  the 
solidarity  of  the  Empire  was  at  stake.  Hence  the  first  per- 
secuting edict  of  A.D.  257.  Of  this  edict  we  do  not  possess  the 
exact  text,  but  it  seemingly  had  two  divisions.  The  first  part 
simply  required  that  the  Christians  should  sacrifice  to  the 
gods  of  Rome,  the  second  forbade  them  assembling  together 
or  visiting  their  cemeteries.  These  hallowed  places  were 
sequestrated.  Refusal  to  sacrifice  was  punished  with  simple 
exile,  but  any  attempt  to  assemble  for  worship  or  to  visit 
the  proscribed  cemeteries  was  to  be  punished  with  death. 
The  bishops  and  clergy  were  especially  marked  out  for  obser- 
vation.    The  edict  was  put  into  force  generally,  and  with  grave 

to  us,  who  have  not  Cyprian's  merit,  to  shun  Cyprian's  opposition  to  this  doctrine. 
We,  perhaps,  might  never  be  allowed  the  opportunity  of  recanting." — Peters  .•  Der 

eilige  Cyprian. 


FROM   DEGIUS    TO   DIOCLETIAN.  363 

consequences  to  the  Christian  population  in  such  centres  as 
Rome  and  Alexandria  and  Carthage.  Here,  however,  we  shall 
confine  ourselves  to  what  took  place  in  the  last  of  these  and  in 
the  great  province  of  which  it  was  the  capital. 

Cyprian,  naturally,  from  his  widespread  reputation  as  a 
Christian  leader,  was  at  once  arrested.  He  made  no  effort  to 
escape.  The  2^^'oces-verbal  of  his  first  trial  has  been  preserved. 
It  is  a  piece  of  the  highest  value,  and  is  reckoned  by  scholars 
and  critics  as  of  undoubted  authenticity.  We  reproduce  it,  as  it 
doubtless  faithfully  represents  more  or  less  exactly  what  took 
place  in  other  important  Christian  centres  in  the  case  of  men 
of  rank  who  were  accused  of  being  Christians. 

The  trial  was  held  in  the  Audience  Hall  of  the  Pro-consul 
of  Africa,  Aspasius  Paternus.  The  Roman  magistrate  began 
by  informing  Cyprian  that  the  most  sacred  Emperors  Valerian 
and  Gallienus  (the  latter  had  been  associated  by  his  father 
Valerian  in  the  Imperial  dignity)  had  sent  him  a  mandate  in 
which  they  directed  that  persons  not  following  the  Roman 
religion  should  at  once  conform  to  the  State  ceremonials.  In 
consequence  of  the  mandate  he  should  make  inquiries  as  to 
how  the  arrested  prisoner  styled  himself. 

Cyprian,  in  his  answer,  replied  :  "  I  am  a  Christian  and  a 
bishop,  I  know  no  other  gods  but  the  One  true  God  Who 
made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  ah  that  is  in  them.  He 
is  the  God  whom  we  Christians  wholly  serve.  Him  we  pray 
to,  night  and  day,  for  ourselves  and  for  the  safety  of  the 
Emperors." 

The  Pro-consul :  "  In  this  purpose,  then,  you  persevere  ? " 

Cyprian :  "  A  good  purpose,  formed  on  the  knowledge  of 
God,  cannot  possibly  be  altered." 

The  Pro-consul  (sarcastically) :  "  Will  it  then  be  jDOSsible 
for  you,  in  comj)liance  Avith  the  commands  of  Valerian  and 
Gallienus,  to  go  at  once  into  exile  to  the  city  of  Curubis  ? " 

Cyprian :  "I  depart." 

The  Pro-consul  Paternus  further  requested  Cyprian  to 
give  information  respecting  the  Christian  presbyters  of 
Carthage.  This  the  bishop  refused  to  do,  adding,  however, 
that  the  presbyters  would   be    found   in   their    several    cities. 


364  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

Paternus  rejoined  that  he  would  have  them  found,  and  then 
repeated  the  terms  of  the  Emperor's  edict  directing  that  no 
assemblies  of  the  Christians  were  to  be  held,  and  that  they 
were  not  to  enter  into  their  cemeteries :  any  who  violated 
the  last  injunction  would  be  put  to  death. 

Curubis,  the  city  to  which  Cyprian  was  banished,  was  a 
small,  remote  town  on  the  sea-board  about  fifty  miles  from 
Carthage,  situate  in  a  lonely  district.  The  apparent  levity 
with  which  Cyprian  was  treated  seems  to  suggest  some  doubt 
in  the  Pro-consul's  mind  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  new 
edict.  The  death,  however,  of  this  important  functionary 
changed  the  state  of  affairs,  and  we  shortly  hear  of  the  con- 
demnation of  nine  Numidian  bishops,  many  presbyters,  and 
lay  members  of  both  sexes,  to  the  mines,  where  great  suffer- 
ings were  endured  by  these  true-hearted  confessors.  No 
doubt  this  severity  resulted  on  the  disregard  shown  of  the 
edict  forbidding  assemblies  and  prohibiting  all  visits  to  the 
cemeteries;  regulations  which  would  have  been  deeply  felt  in 
the  Christian  communities. 

In  the  following  year,  258,  another  and  far  severer  edict 
was  put  out  in  the  name  of  Valerian  and  his  son.  It  was 
felt  by  the  Imperial  Government  that  if  any  real  effect  was 
to  be  produced  harsher  measures  were  necessary. 

The  new  edict  of  a.d.  258  was  the  severest  and  most 
far-reaching  law  that  had  yet  been  promulgated  against 
Christianity.  Three  important  classes  were  specially  aimed 
at — (1)  The  Christian  clergy,  bishops,  priests,  deacons,  were 
no  longer  to  be  punished  with  mere  exile,  but  when 
identified  were  at  once  to  be  put  to  death;  (2)  a  new  law 
was  promulgated  which  struck  exclusively  at  the  higher 
classes  of  Romans,  so  deepl}^  had  Christianity  permeated  the 
upper  stratum  of  society  in  the  Empire.  Senators,  nobles 
(egregii  viri),  and  knights  who  were  known  to  be  Chris- 
tians, were  to  be  mulcted  of  all  their  possessions  and 
deprived  of  their  rank.  Thus  degraded  they  were  to  be 
summoned  before  the  tribunals,  and  unless  they  then  and 
there  abjured  their  faith  they  were  to  die ;  noble  women,  too, 
were  liable  to  the  confiscation    of  their    goods    and    to   exile 


FROM   DEGIUS    TO    DI0GLETIA2T.  365 

and  death.  (3)  The  numerous  Christian  members  of  "  Cassar's 
Household,"  including  a  vast  number  of  public  officials, 
were  to  be  reduced  to  the  condition  of  slaves.  That  such 
a  far-reaching  and  terrible  edict  was  deemed  necessary 
by  the  Pagan  Government  of  Rome  in  a.d.  258  bears  a 
testimony  which  none  can  dispute  to  the  enormous  progi*ess 
which  the  religion  of  Jesus  had  made  in  the  upper 
classes  of  society  in  the  Empire  in  the  two  hundred 
years  which  had  elapsed  between  the  reigns  of  Nero  and 
Valerian. 

No  special  mention  was  made  of  the  mass  of  the  people 
generally.  It  was  evidently  supposed  that  such  a  tre- 
mendous blow  aimed  at  the  Christian  leaders,  at  the  higher 
classes  of  society,  at  the  official  order  of  the  "  Household 
of  Caesar,"  would  be  sufficient  to  stamp  out  the  obnoxious 
rehgion. 

The  edict  of  the  preceding  year,  which  forbade  Christians 
meeting,  and  deprived  the  followers  of  Jesus  of  theh  ceme- 
teries, still  remained  in  force,  and  was  of  course  often  acted 
upon.  Although  we  have  evidence  that  terrible  sufferings 
were  endured  by  the  communities  of  the  Brethren  in  Rome 
and  in  Italy,  in  Egypt  and  in  North  Africa,  in  Gaul  and 
Spain,  in  Sp'ia  and  Asia  Minor,  it  is  not  probable  that  the 
sweeping  provisions  of  the  edict  of  a.d.  258  were  ever 
thoroughly  put  in  force,  although  what  was  done  fell  with 
cruel  harshness  on  uncounted  individuals  in  those  various 
centres.  Indeed  there  was  little  time  to  arrange  the  elaborate 
machinery  necessary  for  the  complete  carrying  out  of  a 
law  which  would  affect  so  vast  a  number  of  notable  and 
even  powerful  personages;  for  in  less  than  two  years  a  h'esh 
edict,  promulgated  in  a.d.  260  by  Gallienus,  Valerian's  son, 
put  a  sudden  end  to  the  persecution. 

But  in  Carthage,  which  we  have  selected  as  our  example 
of  an  important  typical  Christian  community  of  the  middle 
of  the  third  century,  at  the  head  of  which  was  j)laced  one 
of  the  greatest  of  the  earthly  members  of  the  Church  of 
Christ,  the  second  of  Valerian's  edicts  was  at  least  in  part 
put  into  force,  and  a    persecution,  sanguinary  while  it  lasted, 


H66  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

harassed  the  believers'^  and  gave  to  Cyprian  the  crown  of 
martyrdom. 

As  regards  the  great  bishop,  we  have  a  perfectly  reliable 
account  of  his  last  days  contained  in  one  of  his  letters,  in  the 
recital  of  his  fjiithful  deacon,  Pontius,  and  in  the  official  proces- 
verbal  of  his  interrogation  by  the  Pro-consul.  The  whole  story 
comes  down  to  us  without  exaggeration,  with  no  improbable 
admixture  of  the  marvellous. 

We  have  seen  how,  in  the  early  autumn  of  a.d.  257,  after 
the  first  Imperial  edict,  he  was  banished  to  the  little  sea- 
coast  town  of  Curubis,  some  fifty  miles  from  Carthage.  Be- 
yond the  fact  of  his  exile  from  his  city,  he  appears  to  have 
been  under  no  restraint,  and  we  know  he  communicated  fi'eely 
with  the  suffering  confessors,  who  in  the  course  of  that  year 
Avere  sent  to  the  mines.  But,  although  Cyprian  personally 
was  treated  with  consideration,  he  was  persuaded  that  the 
end  for  him  was  near  at  hand.  In  the  August  of  the  follow- 
ing year,  258,  the  new  edict  of  Yalerian  against  the  Christians 
was  sent  out ;  and  perhaps  the  same  messengers  who  brought 
him  the  news  told  him  of  the  martyrdom  of  Sixtus  and  his 
four  deacons,  the  first  fi'uits  of  the  persecution  at  Rome. 
The  Pro-consul,  Galerius  Maximus,  Avho  had  succeeded  Paternus 
in  his  high  office,  at  once  summoned  Cyprian  from  Curubis 
to  Carthage.  There  the  bishop  was  permitted  to  lodge  in 
his  own  beautiful  villa  surrounded  by  gardens,  which  he  had 
sold  for  the  benefit  of  his  flock,  but  which  had  been  re-pur- 
chased for  him  bj^  his  devoted  friends. 

The  Pro-consul  was  suffering  from  sickness,  and  sent  for 
Cyprian  to  Utica.  But  the  bishop  was  determined  to  die  in 
his  own  episcopal  city,  and  anticipated  the  summons,  which 
he  was  well  aware  meant  death,  by  withdrawing  himself  into 
a  temporary  place  of  concealment  until  the  Pro-consul  should 
return  to  Carthage.  In  these  last  days  of  a  great  life  must 
be  dated  his  beautiful  farewell  letter,  addressed  to  his  presbyters, 

*  Prudentius  has  chosen  one  of  the  scenes  of  this  persecution  in  Pro-consular 
Africa  for  his  theme  in  the  Peri-Stephanon,  xiii.  76-87.  And  Augustine  dwells 
upon  it  in  his  306th  sermon,  where  he  speaks  of  the  "  Massa  Candida "  of  the 
martyrs  of  Utica.  He  fitrther  explains  this  singular  expression.  "  They  were 
called  Massa  hecause  of  their  numher,  and  Candida  from  their  martyr  hrightness." 


FROM  DECIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  367 

deacons,  and  people.  In  it  he  signified  his  purpose  of  return- 
ing to  his  Carthage  home  as  soon  as  he  heard  that  the  Pro- 
consul had  arrived  in  the  capital  city  ;  for  he  said  that  it 
was  most  fitting  that  a  bishop  should  play  the  part  of  a  con- 
fessor in  his  own  city.  The  words  that  were  spoken  by  a 
bishop  at  that  supreme  moment  should  be  heard  by  his  own 
people  who  would  repeat  them  again  and  again.  He  had 
even  asked  God  that  the  scene  of  his  martyrdom,  to  which  he 
looked  forward,  might  be  Carthage.  Cyprian  evidently  hoped, 
perhaps  expected,  that  he  would  be  specially  helped  in  his  utter- 
ances in  that  solemn  long-looked-for  hour.  In  view  of  the  new 
and  awful  terror  which  he  foresaw  coming  upon  the  communities 
of  believers,  the  Chief  Pastor  of  Carthage  felt  there  was  no 
occasion  for  burning  words  of  encouragement  to  martyrdom  ; 
he  rather  inculcated  sobriety  and  calm ;  no  one  of  his  people 
was  to  give  himself  up  voluntarily,  no  one  was  to  utter  fierce 
words  of  defiance;  only  after  arrest  was  the  accused  Christian 
to  speak,  and  then  a  higher  Power  would  tell  the  faithful  con- 
fessor how  to  phrase  a  noble  confession.'^  There  was  no  fear 
in  Cyprian's  mind  that  any  "  Lapsi,"  shrinking  from  a  brave 
confession,  would  shame  the  Church  of  Carthage,  as  had  once 
been  the  case  in  that  sad  hour  of  the  Decian  persecution.    , 

Everything  turned  out  as  he  had  foreseen  and  provided 
for ;  the  Pro-consul  speedily  returned  to  Carthage,  and  the 
confessor  bishop  at  once  appeared  in  his  own  villa.  There, 
without  delay,  he  was  arrested.  There  was  no  unmannerl}^ 
rough  treatment  of  the  Christian  leader  on  the  part  of  the 
Roman  officials ;  his  high  rank,  his  stainless  reputation,  his 
vast  influence  and  popularity  in  Carthage  and  the  province, 
were  recognised.  But  the  Roman  Government  had  decided 
to  make  him  an  example,  and  by  striking  at  so  eminent  a 
personage,  to  terrorise  his  devoted  flock.  The  second  day 
follomng  the  arrest  saw  the  end.  The  final  interrogatorv 
took  place  in  an  open  court  with  a  colonnade  running  round 

*  Cyprian's  calm  words,  here  contained  in  his  memorable  letter,  were  :  ' '  Nee 
quisquam  vestrum  aliquem  tumultam  fratribus  moveat,  ant  ultro  se  gentilibus 
offerat.  Apprehensus  enim  et  traditus  loqui  debet ;  si  quidem  in  nobis  Dominus 
positus  ilia  hora  loquatur,  qui  nos  confiteii  magis  voluit  quam  profiteri." — C}-prian  : 
Ujf.  83. 


368  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

it  in  the  Prsetorium.  It  was  a  striking  scene  in  which  the 
majesty  of  Rome  was  fitly  represented — the  Pro-consul  of 
Africa  beinof  surrounded  with  his  chief  officials  ;  immediately 
behind  the  chair  of  office  were  the  lictors  with  their  rods  and 
axes ;  before  the  great  magistrate  stood  a  tripod  with  burning 
coals,  and  a  box  of  incense.  The  prisoner  was  sipmly  charged 
with  sacrilege.  The  proces-verbcd  was  very  brief  We  will 
translate  the  Acta  Pro-consularia. 

The  Pro-G07isul  Galerius  :  "  You  are  Thascius  Cyprianus  ?  " 

Cyprian  :  "  I  am." 

The  Pro-consul :  "  You  have  permitted  yourself  to  be 
Pope  (or  bishop)  to  persons  reckoned  sacrilegious  ? " 

Cyprian  :  "  I  have." 

The  Pro-consul :  "  The  most  sacred  Emperor  has  directed 
that  you  should  sacrifice." 

Cyprian :  "  I  will  not  sacrifice." 

The  Pro-consul:  "Think  for  a  moment." 

Cyprian  :  "  Do  the  duty  enforced  upon  you ;  in  so  righteous 
a  question  there  is  no  room  for  reflection." 

Then  after  a  brief  consultation  with  his  Council,  the 
Pro-consul  pronounced  judgment.  The  words  of  Galerius 
were  few  and  measured,  and  admirably  expressed  the  policy 
and  views  of  the  Pagan  Government.  "  Your  life,  Cyprian, 
has  long  been  a  life  of  sacrilege ;  you  have  gathered  around 
you  many  accomplices  in  your  criminal  designs;'  you  have 
set  yourself  up  as  an  enemy  to  the  gods  of  Rome  and  to 
their  sacred  rites ;  nor  have  the  pious  and  deeply  revered 
Emperors  Valerian  and  Gallienus  been  able  to  bring  you 
back  to  their  religion.  Therefore  as  the  upholder  of  a  great 
crime,  as  the  standard-bearer  of  the  sect,  I  must  now  make 
an  example  of  you  in  the  presence  of  your  associates  in 
guilt.  The  laws  (of  the  Empire)  must  be  sealed  with  your 
blood.  Our  sentence,  therefore,  is  that  Thascius  Cyprianus 
be  put  to  death  with  the  sword." 

Cyprian's  only  rejoiner  was :  "  Thanks  be  to  God."  ^ 

*  Cf.  Acta  pro-co7isularia  S.  Cypriani,  2,  3,  4,  5  (Ruinart)  ;  Pontius,  Vita 
S.  Cypriani,  15,  16,  17,  18;  Le  Blant,  Les  Actes  des  Martyrs,  p.  230-1;  AUard, 
Sistoire     des     Fersecutions,     vol.     iii.,    cha^jters     i.-iii. ;      Aixhtishop     Benson, 


FSOjI   DECIUS    to    DIOCLETIAN.  369 

The  glorious  end  was  indeed  come  for  the  "standard- 
bearer  "  of  the  Christians,  as  the  Pro-consul  had  happily  styled 
him.  It  was  a  short  but  triumphal  march  from  the  Prsetorium 
to  the  spot  where  the  doom  was  to  be  accomplished.  It 
was  to  be  no  secret  execution. 

The  arrest  of  the  loved  bishop  and  his  condemnation  were 
soon  known  to  a  great  crowd  of  Christian  folk.  The  Roman 
Governor  wished  it  to  be  a  great  example ;  he  had  his  wish. 
Guarded  closely  by  a  company  of  the  well-known  third  legion, 
and  followed  by  a  crowd  of  mourning  spectators,  Cyprian 
soon  reached  the  spot  where  the  last  scene  of  this  memorable 
tragedy  was  to  be  acted.  Quietly  the  eminent  teacher  of 
the  Christians  took  off"  his  upper  garments,  and,  after  praying 
a  while,  stood  upright  in  his  long  white  linen  garment. 
Then,  as  it  seemed,  he  waited  to  see  if  any  message  of  God 
came  to  him  to  utter ;  but  there  was  nothing,  so  he  was  silent. 
The  executioner  arrived,  the  mart}T  asked  his  friends  who 
stood  near  him  to  reward  the  man  with  a  rich  guerdon  of 
twenty-five  pieces  of  gold,  and  with  the  help  of  two  who  were 
close  to  him  bound  a  handkerchief  over  his  own  eyes.  Some- 
thing in  the  appearance  of  Cyprian  umierved  the  headsman, 
and  he  could  not  strike ;  then  stepping  forward  the  centurion 
in  command  of  the  escort  took  his  place,  determining  himself 
to  give  the  death  stroke,  and  with  one  blow  closed  the  sad 
scene.  "  Ita  beatus  Cyprianus  passus  est."  "  Thus  the  blessed 
C}^rian  suffered"  were  the  simple  but  pathetic  words  which 
closed  the  "  Acta,"  fi'om  which  we  have  largely  quoted. 

The  martyrdom  of  Cyprian  at  Carthage  in  a.d.  258  was 
the  signal  for  a  general  persecution  in  North  Africa,  in 
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  two  edicts  of  Valerian. 
In  Pro-consular  Afi-ica  there  were  many  victims,  in  Numidia 
even  more ;  in  other  parts  of  the  Empire  the  cruel  edicts 
against  the  Christians  were  carried  out  with  more  or  less 
severity ;  in  Palestine,  in  Coele-Sj^ria,  in  various  populous 
districts    of    Asia    Minor    the    communities    of    the    believers 

S.  Cyprian,  xi.  The  Acta  Pro-eonsuh.ria,  which  have  been  referred  to,  were 
older  even  than  the  "  Life  "  by  Pontius,  Cyprian's  deacon,  who  i'was  with  him. 
at  his  death,  and  from  these  "Acts"  Pontius  freely  quoted. 

Y 


370  EABLY   CEBJSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

counted  many  martyrs.  In  Gaul  and  Spain  the  edicts  Avere 
seemingly  less  rigorously  enforced,  but  even  in  these  distant 
provinces  the  Church  suffered,  though  no  doubt  the  invasions 
or  raids  of  the  barbarian  tribes  to  a  certain  extent  occupied 
the  Imperial  Government,  and  secured  some  immunity  for 
the  Christian  inhabitants.  In  Rome  the  ill-will  of  the  Govern- 
ment was  of  course  conspicuously  manifest,  and  we  shall  give 
a  somewhat  detailed  account  of  the  harrying  to  which  the 
great  Christian  community  in  the  capital  city  was  subjected 
in  this  period  of  general  gloom  and  distress. 

SECTION    II. — ROME. 

Table  of   Popes  or  Bishops  of  Contemporarv 

Eome  between  a.d.  249  and  Roman  Emperors. 

A.D,  260. 

Decius. 

Gallus . 

Valerian. 


Fabianus  a.d.  (2 

36)  250 

Cornelius 

.  251 

Lucius 

.  252 

Stephen 

.  253 

Sixtus  II.      . 

.  257 

(or  Xystus) 

Dionysius 

.  258 

-(269)  Gallienus. 

Although,  owing  to  the  commanding  personality  of  Cyprian, 
Carthage  and  Pro-consular  Africa  was  the  chief  centre  of 
interest  in  the  stormy  period  of  the  general  persecutions 
during  the  reigns  of  Decius,  Gallus,  and  through  the  latter 
years  of  the  reign  of  Valerian,  some  events  of  considerable 
interest  deserve  to  be  chronicled  in  the  Church  of  Rome  during 
those  eventful  years. 

We  have  in  Eusebius  (H.  E.,  vi.  48)  a  brief  summary, 
or  catalogue,  of  the  staff  of  the  Church  of  Rome  at  the  time 
of  the  Deeian  persecution ;  the  catalogue  runs  as  follows : 
''  There  were  (besides  the  bishop)  forty-six  presbyters,  seven 
deacons,  seven  sub-deacons,  forty-two  acolytes  (clerks), 
exorcists,  readers  and  janitors,  numbering  fifty-two;  widows, 
with  the  afflicted  and  needy,  more  than  fifteen  hundred;  all 
of  whom  the  goodness  of  God  doth  support  and  nourish." 
The  historian  then  proceeds  briefly  to  allude  to  the  laity  of 
the  Roman  'communion  as  follows :    "  There  were  others  who 


FROM  DECIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  371 

by  the  Providence  of  God  were  wealthy  and  opulent,  together 
with  an  innumerable  multitude  of  all  people." 

Such  a  bare  summary  of  the  numbers  of  the  officials 
belonging  to  the  congregations  of  the  capital  gives  us  some 
idea  of  the  size  and  importance  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
also  some  conception  of  its  elaborate  organisation.  The 
bishop  was  Fabianus,  who  had  been  elected  some  fourteen 
years  before  in  a.d.  236,  eighteen  years  after  the  death  of 
Callistus.  Tradition  says  Fabianus  was  chosen  on  account  of 
a  dove  alighting  on  his  head  as  the  election  was  proceeding. 
He  was  a  prelate  of  great  power  and  considerable  adminis- 
trative ability.  The  elaborate  and  careful  organisation  of 
the  community  was  in  great  measure  his  work;  his  interest 
in  the  vast  network  of  the  subterranean  cemeteries,  where 
so  much  had  been  done  by  Callistus,  was  sustained,  and  he 
is  reputed  to  have  done  much  to  improve  and  beautify  them. 
The  head  of  the  Roman  Christians  in  the  second  quarter  of 
the  third  century  was  an  important  and  influential  personage 
in  the  life  of  the  great  city,  well  known  to  the  official  world 
of  the  capital.  Tradition,  too,  speaks  of  him  as  exercising 
considerable  power  with  Decius'  predecessor,  the  Emperor 
Philip,  the  friend  of  the  Christians.  This  Bishop  Fabianus 
was  at  once  marked  for  destruction  by  Decius,  who  put 
him  to  death,  hoping  by  this  act  of  cruel  tyranny  to  dis- 
organise the  community  he  so  dreaded.  His  flock  reverently 
laid  him  to  rest  in  the  crypt  of  S.  Callistus.  De  Rossi  dis- 
covered the  fragments  of  the  marble  slab  which  once  closed 
in  the  narrow  cell  where  the  body  of  the  martyred  bishop 
had  been  entombed.  The  name  Fabianus  was  deciphered  on 
the  slab,  Avith  the  letters  annexed,  telling  of  his  rank  and 
noble  martyr  end. 

We  possess  the  letter  addressed  by  Cyprian  of  Carthage 
to  the  presbyters  and  deacons  of  Rome,  in  which  he  acknow- 
ledges their  letter  containing  the  particulars  of  the  glorious 
close  of  Fabianus'  life,  and  expresses  his  own  joy  that 
so  upright  a  career  had  been  so  fitly  crowned.  The  glory  of 
such  a  death,  said  the  Ah-ican  Master,  is  reflected  upon  his 
Church;    such   an  example   set    by    the   bishop   is    a     strong 


372  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

incentive   to   a   similar    brave   resistance   on    the   part   of    his 
brethren  for  their  Faith's  sake. 

After  an  interval  of  a  year  and  some  months,  a  delay 
occasioned  by  the  severit}'-  of  the  persecution,  which  no 
doubt  prevented  any  formal  assembling  of  the  Faithful  in 
Rome,  Cornelius,  who  probably  belonged  to  the  Avell-known 
patrician  family  of  that  name,  was  elected  in  the  room  of 
the  martyred  Fabianus.  The  new  bishop  had  passed  through 
every  order  and  office  in  his  church,  and  was  generally 
respected  and  revered.  His  pontificate  was  short  and 
troubled ;  banished,  not  long  after  his  election,  from  Rome 
to  Civita  Vecchia,  he  soon  died  in  his  exile.  No  doubt  his 
death  was  hastened  by  the  harsh  treatment  experienced  by 
him  in  his  place  of  banishment,  for  he  is  reckoned  as  a 
martyr,  and  is  spoken  of  as  such  by  his  friend  and  con- 
temporary Cyprian  of  Carthage,  although  no  record  of  a 
violent  death  in  his  case  is  preserved  to  us. 

The  body  of  Cornelius  was  brought  back  to  his  own  city 
of  Rome  and  laid,  not  in  the  historical  Papal  crypt  of  the 
cemetery  of  S.  Callistus,  where  most  of  his  predecessors  had 
been  buried  since  the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  but  in 
an  adjoining  catacomb  where  were  the  graves  of  other  Christian 
members  of  that  proud  patrician  house  to  which  he  apparently 
belonged.  De  Rossi  has  discovered  his  sepulchre ;  the  broken 
pieces  of  the  marble  tablet,  which  once  closed  up  the  deep 
niche  wherein  originally  was  placed  a  sarcophagus  containing 
his  remains,  have  been  pieced  together ;  and  the  inscription  in 
Latin,  graven  in  Roman  characters,  can  be  clearly  read :  Cor- 
nelius Martyr.  Ep.  The  Latin  tongue  was  probably  used 
instead  of  the  ordinary  Greek,  the  official  language  of  the 
Roman  Church,  the  illustrious  family  to  which  the  bishop 
belonged  preferring  Latin  as  more  fitting  for  a  noble  Roman's 
grave.  The  sarcophagus  was  probably  of  somewhat  later  date 
than  A.D.  253,  the  remains  in  the  first  instance  having  been 
apparently  at  first  laid  in  a  simpler  grave. 

The  tomb  of  this  bishop  has  been  the  scene  of  many  a 
pilgrimage.  Pope  Damasus,  in  the  fourth  century,  restored 
the  chapel  where  Cornelius  lay,  and  arranged  a  special  staircase 


Photo  :    Anderson,  Rome, 

A    SEPULCHRAL    CHAMBER     IN     THE     CEMETERY     OF     LUCINA 

Connected  with  the  Cemetery  of  8.  Callistus,  restored  by  Pope  Damasus.     It  contains  the  tomb  of 
S.  Cornelius  a.d.  251).     The  paintings  of  S.  Cornelius  and  S.  Cyprian  are  of  the  Eighth  Century. 


FROM  DEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  373 

for  pilgrims.  It  was  injured  by  the  Lombard  invaders  in  their 
hunt  for  treasure  or  relics.  In  the  ninth  century  Pope  Leo  III. 
once  more  restored  it  and  painted  on  its  dark  walls  the  figures 
of  Cornelius  and  his  friend  Cyprian,  on  which  picture,  dim 
and  scarred  by  time,  the  twentieth  century  pilgrim  may  still 
gaze.^ 

We  have  described  the  grave  scandals  at  Carthage  which 
arose  owmg  to  the  number  of  "Lapsi" — Christians  who,  in 
the  persecution  of  Decius,  coming  after  the  long  peace  of  the 
Church,  fell  away  in  the  hour  of  trial;  the  same  sad  falling 
away  was  noticeable  at  Rome  and  in  other  great  centres  of 
population.  The  settlement  of  Cyprian  in  the  all-important 
question  of  reconciling  these  "  Lapsi "  to  the  Church,  and  of 
restoring  them,  when  thoroughly  penitent,  to  communion,  was 
followed  generally  by  Rome  and  by  the  whole  Church.  But 
at  Rome  there  was  a  violent  opposition  to  the  merciful  and 
gracious  view  of  a  temporary  weakness  of  members  of  the  flock 
of  Christ  taken  by  the  bishop  and  the  large  majority  of  the 
rulers  of  the  Christian  community.  This  opposition  was  headed 
by  a  presbyter  of  great  ability  but  of  eccentric  disposition, 
named  Novatian. 

During  the  vacancy  of  the  see  after  the  martyrdom  of 
Fabian,  this  Novatian  exercised  great  influence  at  Rome.  He 
seems  to  have  expected  to  have  been  chosen  bishop,  although 
he  vehemently  protested  that  he  did  not  desire  the  position. 
At  all  events,  after  the  election  of  Cornelius,  a  schism  was 
formed,  and  Novatian  was  consecrated  to  the  Episcopate  by 
three  obscure  Bishops.  Novatian  and  his  party  held  that  the 
Church  had  no  power  of  granting  absolution  to  the  "  Lapsi," 
and  was  bound  to  exclude  them  for  ever  from  communion. 
He  sent  notice  of  his  consecration  as  schismatical  bishop  of 
Rome  to  many  of  the  greater  churches,  but  his  claim  was 
generally  ignored.  His  vigorous  opinions,  however,  on  the 
subject  of  the  "  Lapsi "  found  many  adherents,  especially  in 
the  West;  and  his  sentence  of  lifelong  exclusion  from  all 
Church  communion,  which,  in  the  first  place,  had  been  con- 
fined to  those  only  who  had  fallen  away,  was  subsequently 
extended  to  all  who  after  baptism  were  guilty   of  any  grave 


o7i  EARLY    CmUSTIANITY    AND    PAGANISM. 

sin.  The  followers  of  Novatian  styled  themselves  Puritans 
(Cathari) ;  they  even  went  so  far  as  to  re-baptise  proselytes 
from  the  Church,  whose  lax  discipline  they  deemed  imperfect 
and  impure.  On  other  points  the  followers  of  Novatian  were 
orthodox. 

This  schism,  which  first  arose  at  Rome  in  the  Decian  per- 
secution, did  not  die  out  for  a  long  time.  In  parts  of  the  east, 
e.g.  in  Phrygia,  the  Novatians  united  with  the  Montanists. 
There  was  a  remnant  of  them  in  certain  places  even  as  late  as 
the  latter  years  of  the  sixth  century. 

On  the  death  of  Cornelius  in  exile,  Lucius  was  elected 
Bishop  of  Rome  in  a.d.  252.  A  solitary  letter  addressed  to 
him  by  Cyprian  is  extant,  Lucius  appears  to  have  been  im- 
mediately banished  by  the  Imperial  Government,  In  this 
letter  Cyprian  consoles  the  exile  by  telling  him  that  he  has 
the  prayers  of  the  Church  of  Carthage  that  the  crown  he  had 
already  won  by  a  noble  confession  might  be  perfected — Cyprian 
probably  meant  by  a  glorious  martyrdom  for  the  Name.  But 
Lucius  was  not  called  to  suffer  a  violent  death;  for  he  was 
recalled  from  his  banishment  in  the  beginning  of  Valerian's 
reign,  and,  on  his  return,  died  almost  immediately.  He  was 
laid  with  his  predecessors  in  the  sacred  Papal  cr3^pt  in  the 
Callistus  cemetery,  and  the  broken  slab  of  marble  which  once 
veiled  his  last  resting-place  has  been  discovered,  simply  bearing 
his  name,  AovKL<i,  graved  in  Greek  characters. 

It  was  during  the  persecution  of  Valerian,  cirac  a.d.  258, 
when  all  assemblies  in  cemeteries  were  sternly  forbidden, 
that  some  of  the  curious  work  of  "  earthing  up,"  the  destruc- 
tion of  staircases  communicating  with  the  different  catacomb 
galleries  in  Rome  which  has  of  late  years  been  observed, 
was  carried  out ;  and  at  the  same  time  many  secret  entrances 
and  exits  were  skilfully  contrived.  One  curious  and  deeply 
interesting  account  of  a  terrible  catacomb  scene  of  martja-dom 
deserves  special  mention.  Circa  a.d,  257,  in  the  course  of 
the  Valerian  persecution,  two  well-known  Christians,  a  husband 
and  mfe,  named  Chrysanthus  and  Daria,  were  buried  alive 
in  one  of  the  cemeteries  beneath  the  Via  Salaria  Nova  on 
the   north-east  of  the   city.     In   the   course   of    the   following 


FROM    DEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  375 

year,  disregarding  the  stern  edict,  which  forbade  any  such 
gatherings  under  a  death  penalty,  a  number  of  Christians 
assembled  in  the  labyrinthine  recesses  of  the  great  arenaria 
(or  sand  pit)  adjoining  the  cemetery,  where  the  two  revered 
martyrs  had  met  their  death.  This  devout  company  of 
believers  were  in  the  act  of  partaking  of  the  Holy  Eucharist, 
Avhen  they  were  surprised  by  a  party  of  legionaries,  who 
were  employed  in  the  work  of  detecting  these  proscribed 
assemblies.  The  legionaries  with  little  difficulty  closed  up 
the  exits  of  the  arenaria,  and  by  piling  up  a  great  heap  of 
sand  and  stones  literally  buried  alive  the  numerous  band  of 
worshippers,  who  thus  perished.  In  the  following  centurj' 
Avhen  Pope  Damasus  was  busied  in  restoring  and  putting  in 
order  some  of  the  more  celebrated  burying  places  in  the 
catacombs,  his  officials  came  upon  the  sad  relics  of  this 
entombed  company  of  worshippers.  There,  lying  amidst  the 
remains,  were  the  holy  vessels  which  they  had  taken  down 
with  them  for  the  celebration  of  the  sacred  communion  rite. 
Pope  Damasus  would  not  touch  these  pathetic  memorials 
of  an  age  of  suffering.  He  simply  set  up  one  of  his  well- 
known  inscriptions  telling  the  story,  and  opened  a  window 
in  the  adjacent  wall  or  rock  in  order  that  pilgrims  might  see 
without  disturbing  "  this  monument  of  a  glorious  past  so  unique 
of  its  kind,  this  Christian  Pompeii  in  miniature."  These 
touching  relics  of  suffering  believers,  whom  death  had  over- 
taken while  they  were  in  the  very  act  of  prayer,  were  seen 
by  pilgrims  in  the  sixth  century,  when  Gregory  of  Tours  wrote.^ 
To   return  to  our  list  of  Roman   bishops.      When   Lucius' 

*  De  Eossi  saw  good  reason  to  hope  that  further  investigations  might  bring  to 
light  this  striking  spot,  perhaps  the  very  window  itself  which  Damasus  con- 
structed, through  which  the  pilgrims  once  gazed,  •'  assisting,  as  it  were,  at  a  solemn 
Eucharist  celebrated  in  the  third  century."  De  Rossi's  words  are:  "  Cette  esper- 
ance  est  fondee  ;  j'oserais  presque  dire,  elle  sera  remplie." — Home  dans  sa  grandeur, 
t.  ii.,  p.  6. 

The  martyrdom  of  S.S.  Chrysanthus  and  Daria,  which  preceded  the  striking 
and  pathetic  wholesale  martyrdom  above  related,  is  usually  dated  a.d.  284,  in  the 
reign  of  the  Emperor  Xumerian.  Bi:t  scholars,  auch  as  Tillemont  and  others,  and, 
later,  Allard,  consider  that  this  tragic  event  belongs  to  the  Valerian  persecution,  w 
quarter  of  a  century  earlier.  {Cf.  the  exhaustive  note  of  Allard,  Hiit.  des  Fersecu- 
tions,  vol.  iii.,  ch.  ii.-iii.,  pp.  46-7.) 


376  EARLY    CIiniSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

brief  career  was  closed,  Stephen  Avas  elected  bishop,  circa 
A.D.  253.'^  Considerable  interest  is  attached  to  this  pontifi- 
cate, owing  to  the  haughty  claims  made  by  Stephen  to  a  very 
definite  supremacy  in  the  Church.  These  claims  were  evidently 
resisted  by  Cyprian  and  practicall}^  ignored  by  Firmilian, 
the  famous  bishop  of  Csesarea  in  Cappadocia,  whose  high 
position  among  the  prelates  of  the  middle  of  the  third  century 
has  been  already  alluded  to ;  and  the  claim  of  Rome  was  also 
ignored  by  many  other  bishops  of  this  period. 

It  is  indisputable  that  Cyprian,  who  during  these  troublous 
times  occupied  the  foremost  position  in  the  Christian  Church, 
accorded  to  the  Roman  see  a  position  of  inherited  precedency, 
but  at  the  same  time  resisted  her  claim  to  dictate  her  will  to 
other  and  independent  churches.  Stephen,  however,  was  not 
content  with  an  acknowledgment  of  an  undefined  supremacy, 
and  there  is  little  doubt  that  during  his  pontificate  the  rela- 
tions between  him  and  the  church  of  North  Africa,  mth  its 
powerful  phalanx  of  bishops,  were  severely  strained.  Nor 
were  his  relations  with  many  of  the  Eastern  bishops  by  any 
means  of  a  friendly  nature,  although  the  alleged  fact  of  his 
positively  severing  his  communion  with  these  oriental  prelates 
is  uncertain.  After  the  death  of  Stephen,  the  more  concilia- 
tory policy  of  his  successor,  Sixtus  II.  (Xystus),  seems  to  have 
restored  the  harmony  between  Rome  and  the  provincial 
churches  which  had  been  seriously  imperilled  by  Stephen's 
arbitrary  conduct. 

The  character  of  Bishop  Stephen  of  Rome  has  been  vari- 
ously painted.  Jeremy  Taylor's  estimate,  which  represents 
him  as  a  zealous  and  furious  person,  has  perhaps  too  largely 
infiuenced  modern  opinion,  for  it  has  been  well  remarked  f  by 
the  latest  scholarly  student  of  Cyprian,  an  enthusiastic  ad- 
mirer of  the  great  Carthaginian  leader  who  ever  resisted 
Stephen's  assumption  of  authority,  that  "  Ave  must  not  forget 
that  Stephen's  portrait  is  made  up  of  traits  etched  in  scraps 
by  the  pen  of  an  adversary,  that  Dionysius,  the  revered  bishop 

*  The  exact  date  is  a  little  uncertain  ;  aome  historians  fix  it  in  the  spring  of 
the  following  year,  a.d.  254. 

+  Archbishop  Benson  :  S.  C;/pria>i,  vii.  3, 


FEOA[   DECIUS    TO   DIOCLETIAN.  377 

of  Alexandria,  on  the  other  hand,  makes  grateful  mention  of 
his  (Stephen's)  liberality  to  the  churches  of  Syria  and  Arabia, 
and  that  to  Vincent  of  Lerins  there  floated  across  two  cen- 
turies a  tradition  of  modesty  as  well  as  zeal,  of  faith  as  well 
as  dignity." 

The  story  of  the  long  controversy  of  Stephen  with  Cyprian 
on  the  question,  "  Should  heretics  be  re-baptised  ? "  has  been 
told  with  some  little  detail  in  the  previous  section  which 
dealt  with  Cyprian.  It  was  seemingly  an  anxious  dispute.  On 
the  one  side  stood  the  foremost  man  of  the  Christian  world, 
one,  too,  who  was  greatly  loved  as  he  was  universally  revered ; 
behind  him  were  councils  composed  of  many  bishops.  The 
Eastern  church  sympathised  with,  even  if  it  did  not  directly 
support  him ;  Alexandria  with  her  bishop,  though  on  the 
whole  neutral,  was  inclined  to  be  with  him.  Stephen  of 
Rome  had  few  friends;  his  arrogance  and  want  of  charity 
alienated  many  a  foreign  church ;  but  his  teaching  and  the 
tr;idition  of  his  metropolitan  church  triumphed  in  the  long 
run,  and  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  Catholic  Church,  after 
the  original  disputants  had  passed  away,  has  pronounced  that 
the  unpopular  Stephen  was  right,  and  the  loved  Cyprian 
wrong.  The  issue  of  this  great  controversy,  which  for  a  brief 
season  threatened  to  rend  the  Church  asunder,  has  no  doubt 
been  one  of  the  unacknowledged  factors  which,  in  the  coming 
af^es,  powerfully  contributed  to  consolidate  the  claim  of  Rome 
to  being  the  depository  of  unerring  apostolic  authority. 

Stephen  died  in  the  late  summer  of  a.d.  257.  A  somewhat 
vague  tradition  says  he  too  won  a  martyr's  crown  in  the 
course  of  Valerian's  persecution.  He  was  followed  by  Sixtus  II. 
(Xystus),  who  was  a  teacher  of  learning  and  power,  and  evi- 
dently, from  the  kindly  reference  to  him  by  Pontius,  Cyprian's 
dear  friend  and  biographer,  was  a  gentle  and  concihatory  pre- 
late. The  circumstances  of  Sixtus'  death  in  a.d.  258  are 
strangely  pathetic. 

In  defiance  of  the  Imperial  edict  forbidding  Christian 
meetings,  the  Roman  bishop  and  small  companies  of  believers 
continued  to  worship  together  in  the  secret  recesses  of  some 
of  the  less  famous  cemeteries.     In  one  of  these,  the  catacomb 


378  EARLY   GEBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  Praetextatus,  Sixtus  and  a  band  of  devoted  Christians  were 
surprised  by  a  company  of  legionaries.  When  the  soldiers 
entered  the  dark  and  narrow  chapel  of  the  catacomb,  Sixtus 
was  preaching.  The  bishop  and  the  attendant  clergy  were  at 
once  hurried  away  and  brought  before  one  of  the  city  Prefects, 
who  was  always  on  duty  at  the  time  deciding  the  fate  of  the 
many  arrested  Christians.  Sixtus  was  condemned  to  be  be- 
headed on  the  spot  where  he  was  taken.  Once  more  brought 
to  the  little  chapel  in  the  cemetery  of  PrtTetextatus,  he  quietly 
placed  himself  on  his  rough  stone  chair  and,  bowing  his  head, 
he  received  the  death  blow ;  with  him  were  executed  four  of 
his  deacons. 

Laurence,   his   senior   deacon,   so   runs  the  beautiful   story, 
was   not  present  when  his  chief  was  arrested,  but  hurried  at 
once  to  bid  him  farewell.      "  Whither  goest  thou,  my  father, 
without  thy  son  ?  "     "I  shall  not  forsake  you,"  replied  Sixtus. 
"  Do  not  mourn  me ;   yet   greater  trials   are  before   thee,   and 
thou  wilt  follow  me  in  three  days."     The  prophecy  was  literally 
iulfilled.      Laurence    was   summoned   at   once   by   the   Prefect 
of  the  city,  and,  as  the  confidential  minister  of  the  martyi'cd 
bishop,  commanded  to  give  up  the  treasures  which   belonged 
to   the   Church.      These,   of    course,   largely   consisted   in   the 
sacred    Euoharistic    vessels.      The    deacon    asked    for    a    brief 
space  to  enable  him  to  collect  and  make  a  list  of  the  Church's 
treasures.      On    the   morrow   he    appeared    again    before    the 
Prefect,  followed  by  a  crowd  of  poor  Christian  folk  who  had 
been   helped    by    the  brethren.     "  Here,"   said   Laurence,   "  are 
the  treasures  of  the  Church,  for  which  you   were   enquiring." 
The  angrv  magistrate  condemned  Laurence,   who   thus   dared 
to   braA^e   the   Roman   power,   to   be   burned   alive.      Common 
tradition  speaks  of  him  as  having  been  roasted  to  death   on 
a  gridiron,  his  persecutors  hoping  that  the  agonising  tortures 
would  induce  him  to  reveal  the  secret  of  the  Church's  suqposed 
treasures.      Several    other     members    of    the    Roman    clergy 
suffered   death   with    the   deacon   Laurence.      These   are   only 
a    few    notable    examples    of    the    many    Roman    sufferers    in 
this  period   of  storm    and    stress,    the    persecution    at    Rome 
in   A.D.  258  being  memorable   for   its   extreme  severity.     But 


S.     LAURENCE     BEFORE     THE     JUDGE. 
From  tlie  Fresco  by  Fra  Angelico  in  the  Chapel  of  S.  Nicholas  at  the  Vatican. 


FROM  BECIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  379 

no  memory  of  that  noble  martyr  army  has  been  so  revered 
as  has  that  of  Laurence.  The  stately  basilica  on  the  Via 
Tiburtina  rises  over  the  Urst  little  simple  memoria  erected 
above  his  tomb;  four  other  churches  in  the  Eternal  City 
are  dedicated  to  him ;  there  is,  besides,  scarcely  a  city  in 
Christendom  but  contains  a  church  or  altar  bearing  his  loved 
name.  In  Genoa  the  cathedral,  in  Spain  the  Escurial,  preserve 
the  honoured  memory  of  S.  Laurence,  the  friend  of  Bishop 
Sixtus,  deacon  and  martyr."^ 

The  campaign  in  the  East,  a.d.  260,  closed  the  reign  of 
Valerian,  who  had  issued  the  edicts  for  the  bitter  persecu- 
tions under  which  perished  Cyprian,  Sixtus  IL  of  Rome,  his 
deacon,  Laurence,  and  so  many  of  the  noblest  Christians 
whose  names  are  unwritten  in  the  Church's  martyrolog}'. 
Sapor,  the  Persian  king,  defeated  the  Imperial  forces,  and 
captured  the  Emperor  Valerian,  who  never  reappeared. 
Tradition  speaks  of  unheard-of  indignities  being  suffered  by 
the  hapless  Roman  Emperor  at  the  hands  of  the  Persian 
conqueror.  Gallienus,  his  son,  who  had  been  before  associated 
in  the  Empire,  now  reigned  alone.  At  once  the  persecution 
at  Rome,  and  in  those  provinces  where  the  edicts  of  Valerian 
ran,  ceased.  Not  only  was  all  harrying  of  the  followers  of 
Jesus  stayed,  but  an  Imperial  edict  restored  the  confiscated 
churches,  cemeteries,  and  property  to  the  Christian  com- 
munities. This  great  and  sudden  change  in  the  fortunes  of 
the   Church   is   attributed   to   the   influence   of  Salonina,   the 


*  There  are  no  extant  Acts  of  B.  Laurence ;  the  simple  beautiful  story 
above  related  is  only  based  upon  an  old  tradition,  but  the  tradition  is  as  old 
as  S.  Ambrose,  who  lived  within  a  hundred  j-ears  of  the  events  in  question. 
S.  Ambrose  gives  it  twice ;  a  very  few  years  later  S.  Augustine  quotes  it  in 
foiu-  of  his  sermons ;  Prudentius,  the  Christian  poet  of  the  second  half  of  the 
fourth  centui-y,  adopts  the  story  as  the  theme  of  one  of  his  poems  in  the 
Feri-StepJi anon  (11). 

The  position  Laurence  occupied  among  the  Roman  clergy  was  a  high  and 
responsible  one;  as  first  deacon  he  had  the  chief  charge  of  the  church  funds, 
and  administered  the  large  charities  of  the  Roman  community  at  home  and 
abroad;  he  was  also  placed  over  the  cemeteries  (or  catacombs);  very  frequently 
the  first  deacon  succeeded  the  bishop  in  his  high  office.  De  Rossi,  Inscriptiones 
Christiana  Urhis  Itoma,  i.  115;  Roma  Sotterranea,  iii.  46;  and  Allard,  Hist,  des 
Fersceutions,  iii.  2. 


380  EARLY    CHBJSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Empress  of  Gallicims.  Salonina  was  the  devoted  disciple 
of  Plotinus,  the  Neo-Platonic  philosopher.  For  more  than 
half  a  century,  at  intervals,  the  influence  of  princesses  at 
the  Palatine  had  been  marked.  The  teaching  of  Plotinus 
had  led  the  Empress  to  the  borderland  of  Christianity,  and 
eventually,  it  is  probable,  she  became  actually  a  Christian. 
The  Christian  inscription  which  runs  round  some  of  Salonina's 
medals,  "  Augusta  in  pace,"  seems  to  indicate  the  conversion 
to  Christianity  of  the  Princess.  At  all  events  her  influence 
was  exerted  in  favour  of  the  Church,  and  the  result  was 
the  gracious  and  generous  edict  we  have  just  spoken  of. 
In  Rome,  and  over  most  of  the  West,  including  Italy,  Gaul, 
Spain,  and  Britain,  the  Christians  at  once  enjoyed  a  period 
of  quietness  and  toleration.  In  the  East,  where  the  authority 
of  Gallienus  was  largely  opposed,  persecution,  more  or  less 
severe,  continued. 

SECTION    III. — THE    ROMAN    EMPERORS. 

The  character  of  Galhenus  was  a  strange  combination  of 
brilliance  and  incompetence ;  rarely  accomplished,  he  was 
utterly  neglectful  of  all  the  higher  functions  of  a  great 
ruler.  The  awful  woes  of  the  vast  Empire  over  which  he 
bore  sway  touched  him  but  lightly.  Lazy,  and  utterly  in- 
different to  all  duties,  civil  and  military,  he  contented  himself 
with  a  life  of  dissolute  pleasure  in  his  splendid  capital. 
The  period  of  his  reign  was,  perhaps,  the  most  disastrous 
yet  chronicled  in  the  many-coloured  pages  of  the  eventful 
story  of  Rome.  We  have  already  briefly  noticed  the  terrible 
inroads  of  the  barbarians,  notably  of  the  Goths  and  Allemanni 
in  the  Western  Provinces,  and  of  the  Persians  in  the  East, 
in  the  latter  years  of  Valerian.  During  the  dreary  period  of 
the  reisfn  of  his  son  the  vast  dominions  of  Rome  seemed  to 
be  rapidly  crumbling  to  pieces.  Nor  were  affairs  at  home 
more  promising.  The  "  Augustan  History  "  tells  us  that  in  this 
gloomy  reign  a  group  of  pretenders  to  the  throne,  mostly 
soldiers  of  fortune,  rose  and  fell  in  the  various  provinces  of 
the   Empire.      In   the  pages   of   that  useful    and   interesting, 


FROM   DEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  381 

and  generally  reliable,  chronicle  these  rebel  claimants  to 
what  in  every  instance  proved  to  be  "  a  bloody  purple " — 
for  they  all  fell  in  turn  victims  to  their  ill-placed  ambition 
— are  termed  the  "  Thirty  Tyrants."  The  number  is  as 
misleading  as  the  appellation.  At  most  these  short-lived 
pretenders  only  numbered  nineteen.  But  their  revolts  were 
fatal  to  all  settled  government,  and  the  sufferings  of  the 
hapless  provincials,  harried  by  the  formidable  barbarian 
raiders,  were  enormously  increased  by  the  state  of  perpetual 
unrest  and  internal  warfare  resulting  from  these  continued 
and  partly  successful  revolts.  To  add  to  the  general  misery 
and  desolation,  between  the  years  250  and  265  a  furious  and 
fatal  plague  raged  almost  continuously  in  every  province 
and  every  city  throughout  the  Empire.  We  have  dwelt 
already,  it  will  be  remembered,  on  its  terrible  ravages  in 
Alexandria  and  Carthage.  The  historian  of  the  Decline 
and  Fall,  commenting  on  the  misery  of  these  sad  years, 
goes  so  far  as  to  suggest  that  "barbarian  invasions,  internal 
revolt  and  war,  and  the  unchecked  pestilence,  had  consumed 
in  these  fatal  years  the  moiety  of  the  human  species."^" 

In  A.D.  268  the  Emperor  Gallienus,  alarmed,  at  length,  by 
the  presence  in  the  home  province  of  Italy  of  a  formidable 
pretender,  Aureolus,  general  of  the  legions  of  the  Upper 
Danube,  roused  himself  from  his  strange  indifference  and 
apathy,  and  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  the  army  of 
Rome  advanced  into  north  Italy  to  meet  the  rebel.  He 
besieged  the  pretender  in  Milan,  but  received  a  mortal 
wound  in  a  night  attack.  Dying,  he  nominated  as  his 
successor  Claudius,  one  of  his  generals,  or,  at  least,  Claudius 
claimed  to  have  been  so  nominated.  This  successor  of 
Gallienus  was  unmistakably  an  officer  of  rare  merit  and  of 
conspicuous  ability. 

The  fortunes  of  the  Empire  now  brightened.  Under 
Claudius  and  his  immediate  successors,  men  of  high  genius, 
of  resolute  courage  and  determination,  equally  able  in  civil 
matters  and  in  military  command,  the  pressing  dangers  from 
foreign   and  home   enemies   were   warded   off,  a  succession  of 

*  Gibbon :  Decline  and  Fall,  chap.  x.  3. 


382  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

splendid  victories  drove  back  the  swarming  hordes  of  bar- 
barians, a  wise  restoration  of  something  of  the  ancient  discipHne 
was  also  introduced  into  the  legions.  Claudius,  Aurelian,  Probus, 
and  Diocletian,  who  in  the  next  thirty  years  wore  the  Imperial 
purple,  have  deservedly  been  styled  the  restorers  of  the  Roman 
world.  But  during  most  of  this  period  of  renovation  the  story 
of  the  Christians  is  a  most  gloomy  one,  and  the  pages  of  the 
Christian  chronicles  are  filled  with  the  recitals  of  terrible 
sufferings  which  the  followers  of  Jesus  were  called  upon  to 
endure,  especially  in  Rome  and  the  home  provinces.  It  was 
their  last  trial — the  last  effort  of  Paganism. 

Claudius  II.  reigned  from  a.d.  268-70.  This  Emperor  is 
famous  in  history  for  the  reforms  he  inaugurated  in  the  waning 
discipline  of  his  Roman  armies,  and  for  a  crushing  defeat 
which  he  inflicted  on  the  Goths  in  Northern  Greece,  thereby 
freeing  the  Empire  for  a  long  season  from  perhaps  the  most 
formidable  of  the  barbarian  invaders.  Owing  to  this  conspicuous 
success  he  has  been  generally  known  as  Claudius  Gothicus.  It 
is  a  disputed  point  among  ecclesiastical  historians  whether  or 
no  Christians  were  persecuted  in  this  short  "  military "  reign. 
On  the  one  hand,  there  is  no  mention  of  any  persecution  in 
the  pages  of  Eusebius  or  of  the  less  known  writers,  Orosius 
and  Sulpicius  Severus.  On  the  other,  a  long,  sad  catalogue  of 
sufferings  appear  in  martyrologies  and  in  a  few  Acts  of  martyrs 
purporting  to  speak  of  this  reign.  These  "  pieces "  are  un- 
doubtedly late,  but  it  is  difficult  to  conclude  that  the 
traditions  upon  which  they  are  based  would  have  specified  the 
reign  of  Claudius  as  the  date  of  these  sufferings  if  it  had  been 
a  time  of  general  quietness  for  the  Church.  It  seems  most 
probable  that  the  persecution  referred  to  was  largely  confined 
to  Rome  and  Italy,  and  that  it  was  owing  to  popular  discontent 
rather  than  to  any  special  edict  of  the  Emperor.  Among  the 
victims  whom  the  martyrologies  mention  are  the  wife  and 
daughter  of  the  son  of  the  Emperor  Decius,  who  had  been 
associated  with  his  father. 

Claudius  died,  very  shortly  after  his  gi-eat  victory,  of  the 
plague  at  Sirmium ;  recommending  Aurelian,  one  of  his  most 
famous  generals,  as  a  fitting  successor.     Aurelian  was  a  great 


FROM   DEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  383 

soldier.  The  son  of  a  small  peasant  proprietor  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Sirmiiini  and  of  one  of  the  inferior  priestesses  of  the 
Sirmium  temple  of  Mithras,  he  had  passed  through  all  the 
grades  of  the  military  service,  and  was  distinguished  equally 
for  his  dauntless  valour  and  for  his  consummate  mihtary  skill. 
He  rose  rapidly  in  his  career.  Valerian  made  him  Consul.  A 
senator  of  the  first  rank  adopted  him  and  gave  him  his 
daughter  in  marriage,  and  the  choice  of  the  dying  Emperor 
Claudius  nominating  him  his  successor  was  with  rare 
unanimity  generally  ratified.  He  reigned  scarcely  five  years, 
from  A.D.  270-5  ;  but  they  were  years  of  almost  unbroken 
triumph.  In  his  successive  campaigns  the  power  of  the 
marauding  Goths,  shattered  by  the  great  victory  of  Claudius, 
was  completely  broken.  The  Marcomanni  and  other  Teuton 
tribes  who  threatened  Italy  were  routed,  and  the  two  for- 
midable competitors  who  had  assumed  sovereign  power — 
Tetricus  in  the  West,  over  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain,  and 
Zenobia,  the  all-accomplished  Palmy rene  Queen,  in  the  East, 
over  Syria  and  the  adjacent  provinces  —  were  completely 
crushed ;  and  in  Aurelian's  splendid  triumph  at  Rome,  in 
A.D.  274,  Tetricus  and  Queen  Zenobia  were  the  most  conspicuous 
figures  in  the  stately  procession  of  the  victorious  Emperor. 
Nor  was  Aurelian  merely  a  most  successful  general ;  he  was 
also  a  great  military  reformer.  His  fame  and  the  deep  respect 
in  which  he  was  held  enabled  him  to  complete  his  predecessor 
Claudius'  work  of  restoring  discipline  in  the  great  armies 
which  Rome  had  to  maintain  for  her  defence.  The  stern 
though  just  regulations  which  he  published  as  to  the  discipline 
and  conduct  of  his  legions  have  deservedly  won  for  this  great 
soldier  the  admiration  of  posterity. 

But  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Empire  found  in  Aurelian 
a  deadly  foe.  In  the  long  drawn-out  combat  between  Paganism 
and  Christianity,  too  often  the  Christian  found  his  most 
determined  enemy  in  the  person  of  a  really  great  Emperor, 
such  as  Aurelian,  rather  than  in  a  weak  and  vacillating  prince 

*  Allaid,  Hist,  des  Persicutions,  iii.,  chap.  v.  This  latest  historian  follows 
Tillemont's  conclusions  here,  who  writes  :  "  Claude  fut  un  cruel  persecuteur,  selon 
les  martyrologies  et  quelques  actes  que  nous  en  avons." — Menwires,  t.  iv. 


384  EABLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

given  up  to  luxiuy  and  self-indulgence,  as  was  Gallienus.  Nor 
is  it  difficult  to  explain  this  apparently  contradictory  experience. 
We  have  already  dwelt  upon  the  strength  and  power  of 
Paganism.  The  more  distinguished  men  vfho  wore  the  purple 
loved  Rome,  and  were  intensely  persuaded  that  the  existence 
of  the  mighty  Empire  and  the  contmuance  of  her  sovereign 
power  depended  upon  the  unity  of  the  religion  professed  by 
the  many  peoples  who  made  up  the  Roman  world ;  these  many 
peoples  were  largely  welded  together  b}^  the  acknowledgment 
of  the  common  religion  professed  by  the  Emperor,  the  Senate, 
and  the  Imperial  Magistrates.  This  apparent  unity,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  only  broken  by  the  Christian  sect,  which,  as 
generation  succeeded  generation,  ever  growing  in  numbers 
and  increasing  in  influence,  absolutely  refused  to  share  in 
the  state  cult. 

The  policy  of  the  State  never  varied  in  its  view  that  the 
presence  of  these  Christians  was  a  grave  and  a  constant  and 
increasing  danger ;  and  when  a  great  and  patriotic  Emperor, 
like  Marcus  in  the  second  centur}-,  and  Aurelian  in  the  third, 
was  at  the  helm  of  public  affairs,  the  head  of  the  State  gave 
effect  to  the  Roman  policy,  which,  however  wrongly,  regarded 
Christianity  as  the  sleepless  enemy  of  the  Empire,  and  essayed 
by  means  of  a  persecution,  more  or  less  severe,  to  crush  the 
ever-present,  and  as  it  seemed  to  the  Roman  rulers,  dangerous 
Christian  sect. 

Relying,  perhaps,  too  much  on  the  contemptuous  indiffer- 
ence of  some  well-known  classic  writers  for  the  popular  idol- 
worship  of  Rome;  dwelling  too  deeply  on  the  presentment 
of  this  cult  in  the  often  shameful  but  still  graceful  pictures 
painted  by  some  of  the  best-known  classic  poets  of  the  lives 
and  pursuits  of  the  "  Immortals,"  whose  magnificent  temples 
adorned  the  historic  Forum  of  the  metropolis,  and  proudly 
towered  over  the  great  thoroughfares  of  Rome  and  of  the 
•  powerful  centres  of  population  in  the  provinces;  posterity 
after  the  long  combat  between  Paganism  and  Christianity  was 
over,  has  not  estimated  aright  the  vast  power  which  Roman 
Paganism  exercised  over  the  hearts  of  men.  We  must  be 
allowed   to   reiterate   this   point,  which,  though  of  the  utmost 


FROM  DEGIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  385 

importance  in  the  great  struggle  of  Christianity  with  Paganism, 
is  too  often  overlooked  or  neglected.  It  appears  and  reappears, 
be  it  remembered,  with  startling  force  at  different  periods  of 
the  struggle.  We  dwelt  on  it  at  some  length  when  the 
persecuting  policy  of  the  noble  Emperor  Marcus  was  under 
consideration.  With  Marcus  and  his  advisers  the  persecution 
of  Christians  was  evidently  a  matter  of  conscience.  So  also 
was  it  with  Aurelian. 

Aurelian  was  something  more  than  a  great  soldier.  His 
mother,  as  we  have  said,  was  a  priestess  of  Mithras ;  and  from 
her,  and  from  his  early  training  and  associations,  the  Emperor 
probably  derived  those  views  of  religion  which  so  powerfully 
influenced  his  life  durinsf  his  brief  but  brilliant  reign  over 
the  Roman  world.  To  him,  as  to  Marcus,  the  religion  of 
Rome  was  something  more  than  the  official  cult,  the  pledge 
of  Roman  unity ;  it  possessed  evidently  a  living  reality.  To 
such  a  sovereign,  at  once  an  earnest,  even  a  fanatical  Pagan, 
and  a  stern  military  disciplinarian,  the  Christian,  who  not 
only  refused  to  share  in  the  popular  religion  but  positively 
loathed  the  objects  of  the  popular  cult,  was  at  once  a  rebel 
to  constituted  authority  and  a  standing  menace  to  the  State. 
Early  in  his  reign  his  estimate  of  the  followers  of  Jesus,  with 
whose  existence  and  influence  he  was  evidently  well  acquainted, 
appeared  in  his  words  to  the  Senate  on  the  occasion  of  a  grave 
alarm  occasioned  by  a  success  in  the  field  of  a  formidable 
Teuton  host  of  Marcomanni.  Aurelian  urged  that  the  Senate 
should  at  once  consult  the  dread  Sibylline  books — a  step 
rarely  taken  —  when  they  hesitated.  He  wrote  to  them 
thus :  "  Why,  Conscript  Fathers,  do  you  hesitate  ?  One  would 
suppose  you  assembled  in  a  Christian  church,  and  not  in 
the  temple  of  all  the  gods.  Take  courage,  I  adjure  you  by 
the  holiness  of  the  Pontiffs,  by  the  sacredness  of  the 
Rulers  help  your  Prince  in  his  hour  of  need!  Let  the 
Sibylline  books  be  searched,  and  whatever  they  suggest,  let 
it  be  done.  Are  captive  victims  from  all  nations  required 
for  offerings,  or  merely  strange  wild  animals  ?  All  these  I 
will  undertake  to  produce,  for  there  is  surely  no  shame 
in  being  conquerors  with  the  Immortals  fighting  on  our 
z 


386  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

side.     This    is     the    way    in     which     our     fathers     went    to 


"* 


war. 

The  special  object  of  his  devotions,  whom  he  hoped  to 
see  the  centre  of  the  Roman  cult,  was  Mithras,  around  whose 
sacred  shrine  his  earliest  memories  were  grouped  The 
extraordinary  popularity  of  the  Mithras  worship  in  Rome  and  in 
other  great  centres,  from  the  earlier  years  of  the  second  century 
onwards,  has  been  already  noticed.  Originally  a  Persian  deity, 
Mithras,  a  word  which  signifies  "  the  friend,"  was  adored  as 
the  god  of  the  bright  heaven  and  of  the  day.  This  worship 
was  formally  introduced  by  Trajan,  circa  a.d.  100,  and 
developed  under  Commodus,  circa  a.d.  190,  and,  though  not 
at  first,  was  subsequently  identified  before  the  time  of  Aurelian 
with  that  of  the  sun.  As  practised  in  Rome  and  the  West, 
this  worship  was  accompanied  Avith  an  elaborate  and  attractive 
popular  ritual;  Mithras  was  regarded  as  at  once  sun-god  and 
fire-god,  the  life-giver  and  the  source  of  purification.  Some 
scholars  consider  the  worship  of  Mithras  at  Rome  as  an  accom- 
modation of  the  primitive  worship  of  Nature,  so  admired  by 
Augustus  and  Virgil,  to  the  growing  voices  of  conscience,  which, 
unacknowledged  and  perhaps  unsuspected,  were  due  to  the 
influences  of  Christianity. 

Among  the  rites  and  teachings  of  the  cult  were  many 
strange  customs  and  doctrines,  seemingly  borrowed  from 
Christian  worship  and  teaching,  such  as  baptism,  redemption 
by  blood,  the  oblation  of  bread  and  wine,  the  sacred  common 
repast. 

But  here  in  these  outward  symbolic  ordinances  and  ritual 
observances,  the  resemblance  to  Christianity  ceased.  Upon 
the  votaries  of  the  Persian  deity  no  precepts  bearing  on  the 
higher,  purer  life  seem  to  have  been  inculcated.  There  was 
no  self-denial,  no  austere  virtue,  no  need  for  purity  pressed 
home  to  the  worshippers  at  the  fashionable  and  favourite 
shrines. 

This  was  the  deity  especially  adored  by  Aurelian.  To  Mithras, 
among  the  crowd  of  Italian  and  foreign  deities  adored  in 
Rome,  he  specially  addressed  his  prayers.     When,  for  instance, 

*  Historia  Augustte  Scriptores,  Aurelian  in   Vopiscus,  20. 


FROM   BECIUS    TO    DIOGLETIAN.  387 

Valerian  told  him  he  had  put  him  forward  for  the  high 
dignity  of  Consul,  Aurehan,  already  a  famous  general,  replied : 
"  May  the  gods,  and  particularly  the  Sun,  influence  the  Senate 
to  think  thus  favourably  of  me  ""^  ("  Dii  faciant,  et  deus 
certus  Sol,  ut  Senatus  de  me  sic  judicet "). 

After  the  great  triumph  which  celebrated  his  victories 
over  Zenobia  in  the  East,  and  Tetricus  in  the  West,  Aurelian, 
as  an  enduring  memorial  of  his  conquests  and  of  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Empire  to  something  of  its  ancient  grandeur, 
erected  on  the  Quirinal  hill  a  temple  of  Mithras,  or  the  Sun, 
which  he  proposed  should  surpass  in  its  costly  magniticence 
all  the  stately  shrines  of  Rome.  It  was  adorned  with  the 
spoils  of  his  Eastern  campaign,  and  its  treasury  was  filled,  it 
is  said,  with  gold  and  gems  of  an  incalculable  value.  In  the 
"  cell  a,"  or  inmost  shrine,  arose  two  statues  of  the  Sun-god, 
the  one  bearing  the  Western  form  of  Apollo,  the  other  the 
Eastern  image  of  Baal.  On  some  of  the  coins  of  Aurelian 
runs  the  inscription,  "  The  Sun,  Lord  of  the  Roman  Empire " 
("  Sol  Dominus  Imperi  Romani  "). 

To  the  favour  of  the  gods  of  Rome,  and  especially  to  the 
protection  of  Mithras,  the  sun-god,  whom  the  Romans  had 
long  admitted  into  the  circle  of  the  immortals  they  adored, 
Aurelian  attributed  the  successful  issue  of  his  striking  cam- 
paigns. To  such  an  Emperor,  the  stern  exclusiveness  of  his 
Christian  subjects,  who  coldly  stood  aloof  from  all  the  gor- 
geous pageantry  with  which  he  honoured  the  gods  who,  he 
believed,  protected  with  their  all-powerful  aid  his  successful 
efforts  for  the  restoration  of  the  Empire,  was  simple  disloyalty. 
Such  impious  men,  in  the  eyes  of  Aurehan,  were  a  veritable 
danger  to  the  unity  of  the  State.  Under  such  a  ruler,  great 
in  peace  as  in  war,  the  popular  dishke  of  the  Christians  grew 
in  intensity.  But  the  active  persecution  of  the  Christians 
which  marked  this  reigTi  only  seems  to  have  been  carried  on 
in  real  earnest  in  the  closing  months  of  his  life.  It  is  clear 
that  in  the  early  portions  of  his  reign  the  edict  of  GaUienus 
restoring  the  ecclesiastical  buildings  and  cemeteries,  which 
had  been   confiscated    by   Valerian,  to   the  Church,  was  still 

*  H'utorice  Augustts  Scriptores,  Aurelian  iu   Vopiscus,   14. 


388  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

considered  to  be  in  force ;  for  we  have  an  account  of  a  curious 
petition  made  to  Aurelian  against  Paul  of  Samosata,  some- 
while  Bishop  of  Antioch,  who  had  been  condemned  as  a 
heretic  by  a  formal  council.  Paul  of  Samosata,  in  spite  of 
the  decision  of  the  council,  persisted  in  retaining  possession 
of  the  Antioch  church  buildings ;  and  the  Emperor,  as  repre- 
senting the  civil  authorities,  was  appealed  to  by  the  Catholic 
Bishop  of  Antioch  to  compel  the  recalcitrant  to  give  up 
these  possessions. 

It  was  a  singular  step,  based,  of  course,  upon  the  edict  oi 
Gallienus  which  formally  restored  to  the  Church  all  her 
possessions,  and  it  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  recognised  position 
of  the  Church  at  this  time.  Aurelian  declined  to  give  judg- 
ment himself,  but  referred  the  case  to  the  Bishops  of  Italy, 
and  especially  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  who  were  to  decide  it. 
(Eus.,  H.  E.  vii.  30.) 

The  policy,  however,  of  Aurelian  towards  the  Christians 
in  the  latter  portion  of  his  reign,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  his  known  zeal  for  the  worship  of  the  gods, 
gradually  changed.  That  he  always  disliked  and  mistrusted 
them  is  clear,  as  is  shown  in  his  words  above  quoted  to  the 
Senate,  when  the  question  of  consulting  the  Sibylline  books 
came  before  them.  And  that  this  dislike  and  mistrust  eventu- 
ally passed  into  open  persecution  is  evident.  Eusebius  {H.  E. 
vii.  30)  thus  in  a  few  words  describes  the  change  which 
passed  over  AureHan's  policy  towards  the  Church.  "  In  the 
progress  of  his  reign  he  began  to  entertain  different  views 
concerning  us,  and  at  length,  under  the  influences  of  certain 
advisers,  he  went  on  to  arrange  a  persecution  against  us. 
And  the  rumour  of  this  was  now  everywhere  abroad."  The 
formal  edict,  the  text  of  which  is  lost,  but  which  Lactantius 
characterises  as  "  bloody,"  ordering  a  general  persecution,  was 
not  issued  till  the  latter  months  of  a.d.  274.  But  probably 
harsh  and  severe  measures  were  taken  against  the  worshippers, 
of  Jesus  some  time  before  the  general  edict  was  promulgated. 
For  tradition  speaks  especially  of  many  martyrs  having 
perished  in  the  well-known  cities  of  Gaul  in  the  course  of 
the  reign  of  Aurelian ;  notably  in  Lyons,  Auxerre,  Autun,  and 


FROM   BECIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  389 

Sens.  The  "passions"  of  these  saints  unfortunately  are  of 
comparatively  later  date ;  evidently  written,  or  more  accurately 
re- written  and  redacted,  long  after  the  events  which  they 
purport  to  chronicle  had  taken  place;  and  therefore  they 
cannot  be  used  in  any  sense  as  authentic  pieces  of  history. 
That  some  of  them  certainly  were  based  on  earlier  and 
probably  contemporary  memoranda  is  at  all  events  probable 
But  we  can  only  speak  of  their  evidence  as  "traditionary." 
Similar  "  passions,"  or  "  acts,"  of  mart3rrs  in  Aurelian's  reign 
in  different  parts  of  Italy  which  have  come  down  to  us  are 
equally  untrustworthy,"^  and  can  only  be  referred  to  by  the 
serious  historian  as  tradition. 

The  "  bloody "  edict,  however,  ordering  a  general  perse- 
cution, which  was  issued  towards  the  close  of  a.d.  274',  had 
but  a  short  time  to  run,  for  the  great  Pagan  Emperor  was 
assassinated  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year,  a.d.  275 
There  were,  however,  some  seven  months  of  inteiTegnum 
before  the  election  of  Aurelian's  successor,  Tacitus,  during 
which  the  edict  of  the  late  Emperor  was,  no  doubt,  generally 
in  force. 

After  the  death  of  Aurelian,  a.d.  275,  the  Church  historian 
only  needs  to  touch  with  a  light  hand  the  story  of  the 
next  nine  or  ten  years.  Then  after  a.d.  285  his  task  will 
become  heavier  as  he  chronicles  the  last  terrible  struggle  of 
Paganism  with  Christianity.  Aurelian  was  assassinated  by 
a  favourite  general,  one  Mucapor,  in  a  military  conspiracy, 
a,nd  for  seven  months  the  Empire  was  without  a  master.  It 
says  much  for  the  wise  policy  of  Aurelian  that  no  rebellion 
or  disturbances  in  Rome  or  the  provinces  seem  to  have 
ruffled  the  peace  of  the  State.  The  legions  under  the  new 
discipline  inaugurated  by  the  two  last  Emperors  dutifully 
left  the  choice  of  a  new  master  of  the  Roman  world  to  the 
Senate,   who  after  some  delay  nominated   an  aged   and  illus- 

*  AUard,  Hist,  des  TersU-utlons,  iii.,  ch.  v.,  Ill,  examines  at  some  length  these 
^'acts"  and  "passions,"  and  discusses  their  various  values  as  pieces  of  reliable 
history.  The  French  scholar,  writing  in  the  later  years  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
considers  some  of  these  pieces  as  embodying  a  definite  tradition,  or  as  based  upon 
ancient  documents. 


300  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

trious  member  of  their  body.  Tacitus,  the  object  of  their 
choice,  reUictantly  accepted  the  purple,  but  only  survived 
liis  elevation  some  six  or  seven  months,  dying  in  one  of 
the  frontier  camps.  The  immediate  cause  of  his  death  is 
unknown. 

A  famous  and  successful  soldier,  Probus,  was  saluted 
Emperor  by  the  legions  of  Asia  as  successor  to  Tacitus,  and 
save  for  the  claim  to  the  throne  by  a  brother  of  the  late 
sovereign,  a  claim  soon  set  aside,  Probus  was  generally  accepted 
by  the  Roman  world  as  its  master. 

His  reign,  a.d.  276-282,  a  period  of  nearly  six  years,  is 
famous  in  the  annals  of  the  Empire  for  the  vigorous  and 
successful  campaigns  against  the  barbarian  hordes  which 
were  threatening  again  most  of  its  fairest  provinces. 

By  far  the  most  conspicuous  of  his  great  military  successes 
was  the  clearing  of  Gaul,  with  its  many  wealthy  cities, 
of  the  invaders  who  were  once  more  sweeping  through  and 
desolating  the  land  and  its  prosperous  towns.  These  savage 
hordes  were  driven  back  by  Probus  into  their  native  wilds,  and 
Gaul  was  for  a  time — but  only  for  a  time — completely  cleared  of 
them.  By  the  year  281,  thanks  to  the  unresting  energy 
and  military  skill  of  this  great  soldier  Emperor,  the  Empire 
of  Rome  found  itself  at  peace  within  and  without;  and  a 
triumph,  notable  among  the  many  triumphs  of  Rome  for  its 
splendour,  celebrated  the  return  to  Italy  of  the  successful 
commander.  In  the  year  following  this  triumph,  strange 
to  say  in  the  very  midst  of  his  legions,  who  for  the  most 
part  idolised  their  brilliant  general,  he  was  murdered  by 
some  discontented  soldiers.  His  Praetorian  Prefect  Cams  was 
chosen  by  the  victorious  soldiers  as  his  successor.  Tille- 
mont  (Hisfoirc  des  Empereurs,  t,  iii.)  strikingly  writes  of 
the  condition  of  the  Roman  world  in  this  year,  a.d.  282,  as 
follows  :  "  After,  the  unhappy  reigns  of  Valerian  and  Gallienus, 
the  Empire,  which  had  been  gradually  raised  once  more 
under  the  rule  of  Claudius  II.,  Aurelian,  and  Tacitus,  under 
Probus  had  reached  a  position  of  grandeur  so  lofty  that  its 
decadence  became  almost  certain."  Carus,  though  a  capable 
soldier   and    a    man    of    acknowledged   ability,    seems    as    an. 


FROM   DEGIVS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  391 

Emperor  to  have  disappointed  the  public  expectation.  The 
writer  of  his  biography  in  the  "  Augustan  History "  (Vopiscus) 
is  doubtful  whether  to  classify  him  among  the  good  or  the 
evil  sovereigns  of  Rome.  He  certainly  left  behind  him  a 
reputation  for  cruel  austerity. 

Once  more  the  Empire  was  threatened  on  various  sides 
with  barbarians,  who  were  emboldened  by  the  news  of  the 
sudden  death  of  the  conqueror  Probus.  After  obtaining  some 
marked  successes  on  the  western  frontier,  Carus,  at  the 
head  of  a  powerful  force,  marched  into  Asia  and  signally 
defeated  the  Persians,  driving  them  even  from  distant 
Mesopotamia.  But  in  the  midst  of  his  triumphant  Eastern 
campaign  he  perished — as  some  say  struck  by  hghtning  in 
a  terrific  storm,  as  others,  perhaps  with  greater  probability, 
suspect,  assassinated  like  so  many  of  his  predecessors  in  a 
military  conspiracy. 

The  Roman  army  at  once  retreated  from  the  scenes  of 
its  victorious  progress  in  Persia.  Carus  had  previously 
associated  in  the  Empire  his  two  sons,  Carinus  and  Numerian. 
The  brothers,  on  the  death  of  their  father,  were  universally 
acknowledged  as  Emperors.  Carinus  had  been  left  in  Rome. 
Numerian  had  accompanied  Carus  in  his  Eastern  expedition. 
The  brothers  were  very  different  in  character.  Numerian 
was  an  accomplished  prince,  a  poet,  and  an  orator  of  no 
mean  capacity;  in  quieter  times  he  would  at  least  have  been 
a  respectable  if  not  a  distinguished  ruler ;  but  his  genial, 
amiable  virtues  were  insufficient  for  the  occupancy  of  a 
throne  where  marked  military  qualities  were  pre-eminently 
necessary.  He  never  returned  with  the  army,  which,  after 
the  death  of  Carus,  abandoning  its  victorious  campaign  in 
distant  Persia,  retraced  its  steps  westwards.  A  dark  mystery 
attended  the  close  of  his  short  reign.  His  father-in-law,  Aper, 
the  Praetorian  Prefect,  was  charged  with  being  his  murderer, 
and  was  put  to  death  by  the  hands  of  Diocletian,  captain 
of  the  Imperial  bodyguard,  who  was  saluted  as  Emperor. 
Carinus,  who  had  been  left  in  Rome,  during  his  brief  reign 
displayed  all  the  worst  characteristics  of  the  vilest  Emperors 
who  had  worn  tlie  purple — a  heartless  profligate  and  a  selfish 


392  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

pleasure-lover,  he  utterly  failed  as  a  ruler.  His  favourites 
and  Ministers  he  selected  from  the  lowest  and  most  degraded 
of  the  people,  whose  passions  he  flattered  and  amused  by  the 
most  gorgeous  and  extravagant  theatrical  displays. 

These  popular  games,  already  in  the  reigns  of  the  great 
military  Emperors  who  preceded  him,  had  been  celebrated  with 
an  extravagance  unknown  even  in  the  days  of  Nero.'^  The 
magnificence  of  Carinus  here  surpassed  all  that  Rome  had  ever 
seen. 

This  infamous  Emperor,  in  the  midst  of  his  guilty  pleasure- 
filled  life  at  Rome,  was  aroused  by  the  news  of  the  approach 
of  Diocletian,  the  choice  of  the  legions  of  the  East,  at  the  head 
of  the  powerful  army  which  had  fought  in  the  late  Persian 
campaign,  Carinus,  under  the  circumstances  of  personal  pressing 
danger,  developed  somewhat  unexpected  courage  and  capacity. 
The  opposing  forces  met  in  Mcesia  in  the  Danube  country. 
At  first  it  seemed  probable  that  Carinus  would  succeed  in 
estabhshing  his  power,  and  that  Diocletian  would  be  driven 
back ;  but  the  civil  war  was  unexpectedly  brought  to  an  end  by 
the  assassination  of  Carinus  by  one  of  his  own  officers  whom 
he  had  foully  wronged.  Without  any  further  bloodshed,  the 
rival  Emperor  Diocletian  was  acknowledged  by  both  the  armies ; 
widespread  consciousness  of  his  ability  and  tactfulness  secured 
a  general  acquiescence  in  his  assumption  of  the  throne  of  the 
Empire.  The  date  of  Carinus'  death  and  the  accession  of 
Diocletian  was  the  late  spring  of  the  year  285. 

During  the  nine  years  which  elapsed  between  the  death  of 
Aurelian  and  the  accession  of  Diocletian  we  possess  but  scanty 
materials  for  any  accurate  picture  of  the  condition  of  Christians 
in  the  Empire.  The  edict  of  persecution  issued  towards  the  end 
of  Aurelian's  reign  was  certainly  unrenewed,  but  it  is  probable 
that  the  state  of  unrest,  so  largely  augumented  by  the  strong 
anti-Christian  policy  of  the  great  Aurelian,  continued. 

The  brief  barbarian-harassed  reigns  of  Tacitus,  of  Carus  and 

*  "Under  Probus,  for  instance,  we  read  of  as  many  as  a  hundred  lions  and  as  many 
lionesses,  three  hundred  heais,  and  two  hundred  leopards  being  massacred  in  one 
day  in  the  Eoman  amphitheatre,  as  well  as  a  far  greater  number  of  less  costly 
beasts,  such  as  ostriches,  stags,  and  wild  boars. 


FROM   DECIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  393 

his   two  sons,   the  longer  but   completely  war-filled  period  of 
Probus,  gave  little  opportunity  to  the  enemies  of  the  Christians 
for  developing  any  organised  attacks  on  their  religion.  The  "  acts  " 
of  martyrdom  which  have  come  down  to  us  of  this  period  are 
few,  and  in  their  present  form  are  certainly  not  contemporary 
records.     The  "  acts  "  of  SS.  Trophimus  and  Sabbazius  purport 
to  speak  of  events  which  took  place  in  a.  d.  281,  the  last  year  of 
the  reign  of  Probus,  in  the  Phrygian  Antioch,  and  relates  the 
arrest  of  certain  Christians,  and  the  tortures  and  martyrdoms 
which   followed  in   consequence  of  the  resolute  refusal  of  the 
confessors   to  sacrifice  ;    but   these  are  reported  to  have  been 
brought  about,  not  in  the  course  of  any  general  persecution,  not 
even  on  the  report  of  an  informer,  but  solely  on  account  of  some 
imprudent  exclamation  of  disgust  uttered  by  the  Christians  in 
question  at  the  sight  of  some  of  the  wild  and  noisy  rites  carried 
on  publicly  in  honour  of  some  probably  local  deity.     As  these 
"  acts "  seem   probably  to  have   been   based    on   contemporary 
memoranda  of  the  scene,  wo  can  fairly  infer  that  under  Probus, 
at  least  in  Asia  Minor,  there   was  no  general   persecution,  no 
special  encouragement  even  held  out  to  informers,  but  that  if 
the  profession  of  Christianity  were  brought  home  to  any  citizen, 
the  magistrate,  if  hostile  to  the  sect,  could  punish  the  offender 
with  torture  and  death.     Probably  this  was  the  general  condition 
of  Christians  in  most  parts  of  the  Empire  at  this  period. 

The  "  acts  and  passion  "  of  the  famous  soldier-martyr  Sebastian 
treat  of  the  period  covered  by  the  short  reign  of  Carinus.  The 
story  is  an  interesting  one,  and  has  enjoyed  considerable  popu- 
larity from  very  early  times,  but  the  recital,  as  we  have  it,  is 
evidently  not  a  contemporary  record,  though  a  wide-spread 
tradition  points  clearly  to  an  historical  basis  for  the  story. 

Far  more  reliable  as  a  contemporary  piece  are  the  "  Acts  "  of 
"  the  disputation  between  Archelaus,  Bishop  of  Mesopotamia,  and 
the  heresiarch  Manes  "  "^  in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Probus. 
The  chief  city  of  the  see  of  Archelaus  was  Carrhae,  a  city  of 

*  This  "  piece,"  which  contains  also  an  account  of  the  death  of  Manes,  was  cited 
by  Epiphanius,  Jerome,  and  Cyril  of  Jerusalem.  Without  positively  affirming  its 
authenticity,  the  evidence  in  favour  of  this  most  ancient  writing  being  a  contempor- 
ary record  is  very  strong.  Allard,  usually  very  careful  in  such  cases,  accepts  it  as  a 
genuine  and  probably  contemporary  writing. 


394  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND    FAGANIS2I. 

Osrhoene,  a  district  in  the  north-west  of  Mesopotamia.  In  this 
ancient  '•'  piece  "  we  read  of  the  cruel  and  brutal  treatment  of  a 
large  company  of  Christian  pilgrims  by  the  legionaries  of  the 
Roman  garrison  of  Carrhae.  In  an  apparently  unprovoked 
onskught  many  Christians  were  killed,  more  were  wounded  and 
severely  injured,  and  the  rest  would  probably  have  been  sold  for 
slaves  but  for  the  charity  of  a  generous  Christian  named 
Marcellus,  who  relieved  and  ransomed  them  at  his  own 
charges.  Such  an  incidental  notice,  occurring  as  it  does  in  a. 
'•'  piece  "  of  literary  importance,  a  position  undoubted^  occupied 
by  the  "  disputation  "  in  question,  tells  us  how  slightingly  and 
cheaply  the  lives  of  Christians  were  estimated  at  times  by  the 
great  Roman  armies  of  the  days  of  Probus  (a.  d.  276-282). 

In  the  same  interesting  record  is  contained  the  earliest 
trustworthy  account  of  Manes  the  heresiarch,  the  first  teacher 
of  that  wide-spread  and  enduring  heresy  known  as  Manichaeism. 
Manes,  the  founder  of  the  sect  which  subsequently  bore  his 
name,  appears  to  have  been  originally  a  slave,  carefully  educated 
by  his  Persian  mistress  in  all  kinds  of  oriental  lore.  His 
theological  system  was  a  curious  mixture  of  some  of  the  Gnostic 
errors,  e.g.  the  two  co-equal  conflicting  principles  of  good  and 
evil,  the  eternity  of  matter,  which  was  regarded  as  essentially 
evil,  all  coloured  with  a  certain  amount  of  Christian  teaching. 
One  of  the  marked  tenets  of  the  sect  was  a  strong  aversion  to 
the  Old  Testament  as  the  work  of  a  wicked  spirit.  Another 
was  the  unreality  of  the  suflering  Christ.  Ci^'ca  a.d.  277, 
when  Probus  was  reigning,  Manes,  who  had  some  time  before 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  Sapor,  King  of  Persia,  probably 
owing  to  his  success  in  assembling  round  him  a  considerable 
body  of  disciples,  escaped  from  the  prison  where  he  had  been 
confined  for  several  years.  A  public  disputation  was  arranged 
between  Manes  and  Archelaus,  the  Mesopotamian  Bishop. 
Archelaus  was  pronounced  by  the  arbitrators  of  the  disputation 
victorious,  and  the  heresiarch,  we  read,  with  difficulty  escaped 
with  his  hfe  from  the  indignant  bystanders.  Shortly  afterwards^ 
Manes  fell  again  into  the  hands  of  the  Persians,  who  put  him 
to  death.  His  skin,  stufl:ed  with  straw,  was  exposed  for  a  long 
period  on  the  walls  of  Ctesiphon. 


FROM   DECIUS    TO    DIOCLETIAN.  395' 

But  his  wild,  half  poetic,  half  rationalistic  theory  of  Chris- 
tianity, with  its  mythic  machinery,  largely  derived  from  the 
old  Gnostic  speculations,  and  Gnostic  asceticism,  long  survived 
its  ill-fated  author.  It  seems  to  have  possessed  a  strange 
fascination  of  its  own.  Manichaeism  was  heard  of  soon  after 
Manes'  death  in  North  Africa.  A  little  more  than  a  century 
and  a  quarter  later,  Augustine  tells  us  the  sect  was  numerous- 
in  Italy  and  in  Africa,  and  that  its  poison  had  affected  secretly 
even  some  of  the  clergy.  It  appeared  and  reappeared  at 
different  times  all  through  the  Christian  ages.  Time,  which 
spread  usualty  a  mantle  of  forgetfulness  over  most  ancient 
errors  and  fancies  of  the  human  brain,  seems  to  have  had  no 
effect  here ;  for  as  late  as  the  twelfth  century,  in  parts  of 
Europe,  Manichaeism  was  taught  openly  and  undisgiiised. 
The  chief  seat  of  these  opinions  was  the  south  of  France ;  a 
long  drawn  out  and  terrible  religious  war  scarcely  stamped  out 
the  enduring  results  of  the  teaching  of  the  half-crazed  Persian 
enthusiast. 


39G 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

DIOCLETIAN. 
SECTION    J. — FIEST    PERIOD:    DIOCLETIAN    AND    MAXIMIAN. 

The  reader  of  this  history  cannot  fail  to  have  noticed  how 
in  the  later  chapters  more  and  ever  more  in  detail  the  chief 
political  events  of  the  Empire  are  dwelt  upon.  In  the  earher 
years  of  Christianity  these  details  were  unnecessary.  For  a 
very  considerable  period  the  religion  of  Jesus  was  generally 
ignored  by  the  State,  except  when  forced  upon  its  notice. 
Gradually  the  position  changed.  In  the  third  century,  cer- 
tainly, the  Church  had,  through  the  vast  numbers  of  its 
members,  its  influence,  its  wide-spread  organisation,  become  a 
power  with  which  statesmen  had  to  reckon.  The  policy  which 
the  Imperial  Government  at  different  times  should  elect  to 
pursue  in  the  case  of  these  numerous  dissentients  from  the 
State  religion  had  become  an  anxious  and  debatable  question, 
and  we  have  seen  how  this  policy  was  constantly  changing. 
In  the  next  period,  the  close  of  the  third  and  the  begiiming  of 
the  fourth  centuries,  the  great  religious  question,  the  relations 
of  Paganism  and  Christianity,  had  become  the  most  pressing, 
the  most  momentous,  of  all  questions  of  State  policy.  Indeed, 
to  use  the  words  of  a  serious  historian  of  our  own  day  and  time 
it  would  seem  as  though  the  scene  of  the  world  drama  had 
been  cleared  of  all  other  actors — only  two  of  importance 
remained  on  the  stage,  the  Pagan  Empire  and  the  Church. 

Diocletian,  the  Emperor,  whose  policy  changed  the  whole 
aspect  of  the  Roman  world,  first  comes  before  us  as  avenging 
the  murder  of  the  young  Emperor  Numerian,  by  slaying 
his   father-in-law,  Arrius  Aper,  the   Praetorian   Prefect.      After 


DIOCLETIAN.  397 

the  assassination  of  Carinus,  the  brother  of  the  slain  Numerian,. 
this  Diocletian,  a  well  known  and  popular  general,  who  had 
lately  filled  the  responsible  post  of  captain  of  the  Imperial  body- 
guard, was  acknowledged  universally  as  Master  of  the  Roman 
world. 

The  son  of  slave  parents,  the  new  Emperor,  whose  talents 
were  undoubted,  had  raised  himself  through  the  various 
military  gTades,  and  had  been  successively  Governor  of  JSIcesia, 
Consul,  and  Commander  of  the  Imperial  guards.  He  had 
given  ample  proof  of  his  capacity  in  the  highest  military  and 
civil  posts. 

Lactantius,  indeed,  in  some  half-dozen  passages,  atfirnxs. 
that  as  a  soldier  he  was  somewhat  timid  and  lacked  daring.* 
But  as  a  statesman  skilled  in  the  choice  of  fitting  instruments 
to  carry  out  his  policy,  Diocletian  was  undoubtedly  far-seeing 
and  wise,  whatever  estimate  may  be  formed  of  the  policy 
itself.  Unlike  many  of  his  predecessors,  he  inaugurated  his- 
reign,  not  by  murdering  or  conniving  at  the  murder  of  the 
reigning  Emperor,  but  by  slaying  the  murderer  of  the 
sovereign  with  his  own  hand.  This  act  may  be  said  to  have 
won  the  people  to  his  side. 

Firmly  seated  on  the  world's  throne,  he  resolved  to  break 
up  in  some  degree  the  "  unity "  of  the  Empire,  which  he 
felt  was  becoming  a  constant  peril  to  all  settled  government. 
There  had  been,  as  a  rule,  one  Emperor  on  whom  all  depended, 
and  one  city  which  was  the  centre  of  the  Roman  world.  The 
successful  revolts  and  assassinations  in  the  thirty  or  forty 
years  preceding  the  accession  of  Diocletian,  had  been  terribly 
numerous.  This  danger  he  sought  to  avert  by  multiplying 
Emperors  and  by  creating  various  cities  which,  in  power  and 
prestige,  should  rival  the  immemorial  capital.  By  this  means 
he  proposed  to  render  a  successful  revolt  well-nigh  impossible, 
and  an  Imperial  assassination  useless ;  and  thus  a  security 
long    unknown    in    the    Empire   would    be   provided   for   the 

*  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall,  chap,  xiii.,  referring  to  Lactantius'  Be  Mortibtts 
Persecutorum,  here  somewhat  scornfully  rejects  this  testimony.  He  refers  only 
to  two  of  these  references  of  Lactantius ;  there  are,  however,  other  references, 
to  the  same  effect.     The  estimate  given  above  is  probably  accurate. 


398  EARLY   GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

existing  government.  He  inaugurated  his  new  policy  by 
associating  a  partner  with  him  on  the  throne,  and  subsequently 
by  increasing  the  number  of  Imperial  partners  from  two 
to  four.  Thus,  if  in  one  division  of  the  Roman  world  an 
ambitious  general  or  official  proposed  to  seize  the  throne  by 
the  murder  of  its  occupant,  he  would  probably  be  deterred 
from  his  purpose  when  he  remembered  that  three  more 
partners  in  the  throne  in  other  parts  of  the  Roman  world, 
partners  in  the  Imperial  authority  closely  knit  together  by 
various  ties,  would  have  to  be  reckoned  with. 

Again  Diocletian  felt  that  the  Empire  was  so  enormous, 
and  so  dangerously  threatened  on  all  sides  by  barbarian 
tribes  more  or  less  powerful  and  numerous,  that  the  constant 
presence  of  an  Emperor  on,  or  comparatively  near,  a  frontier 
of  the  vast  realm  was  needed  for  the  public  security.  It  was 
not  sufficient  that  the  chief  of  the  State  should  successfully  keep 
at  bay  the  Persians  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  when  the 
Goths  or  the  Alemanni,  at  an  enormous  distance  from  the 
Imperial  headquarters  on  the  Euphrates,  might  at  any  moment 
imperil  the  Empire  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine. 

His  first  choice  of  a  colleague,  from  these  points  of  view, 
was  successful.  He  associated  with  himself  Maximian.  The 
"associated"  Emperor,  like  Diocletian,  was  of  low  birth  and 
not  an  Italian.  He  was  merely  a  rough  soldier;  but  if  he 
lacked  the  gifts  of  a  really  great  general,  it  is  certain  that 
he  possessed  indomitable  energy,  conspicuous  bravery,  and 
splendid  perseverance.  His  campaigns  were  generally  success- 
ful, but  he  was  known  as  a  stern  and  cruel  ruler,  a  curious 
contrast  to  his  more  courtly  and  gentle  statesman- colleague, 
to  whom,  however,  though  so  different  in  temper  and  character, 
he  was  ever  loyal  and  devoted.  Carrying  out  the  spirit  of 
his  contemplated  change  in  the  administration  of  the  Empire, 
Diocletian  resided  at  Nicomedia,  which  became  the  centre 
of  the  government  of  the  East.  The  city  was  well  chosen, 
on  an  arm  of  the  sea  of  Marmora.  It  was  a  good  place  of 
arms  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Black  Sea,  comparatively 
speaking  within  easy  distance  both  of  the  Tigris  and  the' 
lower   Danube,   the    natural  highways   of  approach   for   some 


DIOCLETIAN.  399 

of  the  more  formidable  of  the  restless  enemies  of  the  Empire. 
This  city,  as  his  chosen  residence  and  the  seat  of  his  govern- 
ment, he  lavishly  adorned  with  costly  buildings,  such  as 
befitted  the  capital  of  the  Roman  Empire  of  the  East.  But 
the  choice  boded  ill  for  the  future  of  the  Christians,  since 
it  was  a  famous  and  even  a  fanatical  seat  of  Paganism.  Maxi- 
mian's  metropolis  was  Milan,  in  North  Italy ;  Rome  was 
thus  deserted  by  the  Imperial  Court,  and  lost  its  immemorial 
rank  and  much  of  its  prestige,  while  the  august  Senate, 
which,  even  under  the  rule  of  the  roughest  military  despots, 
retained  at  least  the  semblance  of  its  ancient  dignity  and 
privileges,  now  sank  almost  into  the  position  of  the  Municipal 
Council,  of  a  city  no  longer  the  official  metropolis  of  the 
Roman  world.  The  associated  Emperors  assumed  respectively 
the  Pagan  titles  of  Joviua  and  Herculius,  investing  them- 
selves with  the  insignia  of  the  King  of  the  Gods,  and  of 
the  strongest  warrior  in  the  ranks  of  the  Immortals,  an 
evil  omen  for  their  Christian  subjects. 

Another  striking  change  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Empire 
was  carried  out  by  the  policy  of  Diocletian.  The  absolute 
masters  of  the  Roman  world  who  had  preceded  him  had 
veiled  their  enormous  power  under  the  ancient  titles  belonging 
to  the  officials  of  the  old  Republic,  carefully  avoiding  the 
title  of  king  and  rejecting  the  kingly  ornament  of  the  diadem, 
the  ensign  of  royal  sovereignty.  The  only  special  title  which 
Augustus  and  his  successors  assumed  was  that  of  "  Imperator," 
which  was  originally  a  military  term  denoting  the  highest 
rank  in  the  army.  Diocletian  introduced  the  magnificent 
ceremonial  of  the  Persian  court,  assuming  the  diadem  of  a 
king,  an  ornament  obnoxious  to  the  Roman  spirit  as  an  ensign 
of  royalty.  The  mediaeval  and  modern  idea  of  royalty  in  the 
nations  of  the  West  was  really  introduced  by  Diocletian,  when 
"the  organisation  which  this  sovereign  gave  to  his  new 
Court  attached  less  honour  and  distinction  to  rank  than  to 
services  performed  towards  the  members  of  the  Imperial 
family."  The  apologists  of  the  revolution  in  the  ancient 
Roman  constitution  worked  by  Diocletian  are  careful  in  their 
reiteration   that  these  changes   were    prompted,    not    by  any 


400  EAELY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

love  of  ostentation  or  vain  show,  but  by  a  persuasion  that 
all  this  magnificence  and  adulation  would  promote  obedience 
and  ordei'  among  the  many  peoples  and  nationalities  grouped 
together  under  the  name  of  Romans. 

What,  then,  was  the  position  of  Christians,  now  so 
numerous,  under  this  great  statesman-Emperor,  and  what 
were  the  circumstances  which  gradually  led  up  to  that 
tremendous  outburst  of  systematic  persecution  with  which 
this  reign  will  ever  be  associated  ?  In  the  first  place  it  is 
clear  that  the  mind  of  the  Emperor,  for  several  years  after 
his  accession,  was  not  made  up  as  to  the  policy  he  should 
adopt  towards  this  large  and  influential  body  of  his  subjects. 
In  these  earlier  years  there  is  no  doubt  that  great  influence 
was  exercised  in  the  Court  of  Diocletian  in  favour  of  Chris- 
tianity by  a  number  of  the  Palace  ofiicials,  who  made  no 
secret  of  their  Christian  profession.  At  the  head  of  this 
Christian  party  were  the  wife  and  daughter  of  the  Emperor, 
Prisca  and  Valeria,  who  were  Christians,  at  least  occupying 
the  position  of  catechumens.  Christian  ofiicials  in  the  Palace 
were  tolerated,  and  were  possibly  regarded  with  some  favour 
at  first  by  Diocletian,  who  even  nominated  members  of  the 
"  Sect "  to  governorships  and  important  ma,gistracies  in  the 
provinces,  dispensing  such  Christian  nominees  from  the 
necessity  of  sharing  in  the  public  sacrificial  rites,  as  indeed 
some  among  his  more  tolerant  predecessors  had  already  done. 

But  alongside  this  toleration  or  even  favour,  there  seems 
to  have  been  instances  early  in  the  reign  of  Diocletian  when 
the  sovereign  allowed  the  old  laws  of  the  State,  still  unrepealed, 
to  be  acted  upon  in  the  case  of  open  hostility  on  the  part  of 
Christians  to  Paganism.  The  curious  and  interesting  "  Passion 
of  S.  Genesius,"  *  the  scene  of  which  was  laid  in  Rome,  belongs 
to  the  early  years  of  Diocletian.  If  this  piece  be  accepted  as 
genuine,   it  indicates   that   the  severest  punishments  were,  at 

*  Tillemont,  commenting  upon  this  beautiful  piece,  calls  attention  to  its  sim- 
plicity and  apparent  truthfulness,  and  considers  it  reliable  and  authentic — "  une 
piece  que  sa  simplicite  rend  aimable  et  fait  jug'er  tout  a  fait  fidele"  (tom.  iv., 
Memoires  S.  Gencse).  Allard,  Persecution  de  iJloclitien,  i.  1  (1898),  accepts  this 
"  Passion  of  S.  Genesius  "  as  containing  "des  details  precis  et  suSisament  surs." 


DIOCLETIAN.  401 

all  events  occasionally,  still  meted  out  to  Christian  professors. 
Whilst  Diocletian  in  the  first  partition  of  the  Empire 
took  the  Eastern  division  of  the  Roman  world  under  his 
especial  government,  the  Western  provinces  passed  at  once 
under  the  rule  of  his  colleague,  Maximian  HercuHus. 

The  kindly  toleration,  which  perhaps  save  in  a  few  instances 
in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  was  showed  by  Diocletian  to 
members  of  the  Christian  sect  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
the  policy  of  Maximian.  Between  the  years  286  and  291-2 
there  was  not  indeed  any  general  persecution  of  the  "  Sect " ; 
but  the  general  testimony  of  ecclesiastical  tradition  preserved 
in  the  "  Acts  of  Martyrs,"  treating  of  this  period,  tells  us  that 
in  the  provinces  subject  to  Maximian,  especially  in  that  vast 
division  of  the  West  known  as  Gaul,  much  Christian  blood 
was  shed,  and  many  sufferings  were  evidently  endured. 

In  A.D.  286  a  serious  revolt  broke  out  in  Gaul ;  not  a 
revolt  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word  as  usually  understood 
in  the  Rome  of  that  age,  of  legionaries  who  had  chosen  some 
favourite  commander  to  replace  the  reigning  Emperor;  but 
a  general  uprising  of  the  peasants,  the  descendants  of  the  old 
Celtic  inhabitants  of  the  land,  against  the  oppressions  of  the 
Gallo-Roman  nobles  who  had  gradually  reduced  these  people 
into  a  state  of  miserable  servitude.  To  restore  this  grreat 
division  of  the  Empire  once  more  to  a  state  of  law  and  order 
was  Maximian's  first  important  task.  It  was  on  his  march 
from  Italy  to  Gaul  that  the  famous  bloody  episode  of  the 
Theban  Legion  is  said  to  have  taken  place. 

A  portion  of  the  army  of  Maximian  on  its  march  had 
encamped  in  the  valley  of  Agaunum,  some  little  distance 
from  the  Leman  Lake,  in  the  district  now  knoum  as  "  Valais." 
A  body  of  soldiers,  called  in  the  story  "  The  Theban  Legion,"^ 
but  probably,  in  fact,  a  cohort  mainly  recruited  in  the  Thebaid 


*  The  numbers  usually  given  are  evidently  exaggerated.  We  must  remember 
that  Eucherius'  account,  truthful  though  it  seems  on  the  whole,  had  come  to  him 
through  two  persons,  neither  of  them  eye-witnesses.  A  Legion  would  certainly 
denote  several  thousands.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  too,  that  the  names  of  only 
three  officers  of  the  company  are  preserved,  one  of  whom  was  Maurice,  the  martyr 
always  associated  with  the  deed  of  blood. 
A  A 


402  EABLY    CBBI8TIANITY   AND    FAGANI8M. 

district  of  Egypt  and  forming  part  of  the  Imperial  forces, 
happened  to  be  earnest  Christians. 

This  Theban  contingent  dechned  to  take  part  in  a  solemn 
sacrificial  ceremony  arranged  by  Maximian,  who  desired  to 
propitiate  the  gods  and  to  win  their  assistance  in  the  danger- 
ous campaign  on  which  he  was  about  to  enter.  The  super- 
stitious Emperor,  bitterly  incensed  at  this  refusal  of  the 
Thebaid  contingent  to  share  in  the  solemn  Pagan  rites  he  had 
arranged,  treated  the  refusal  not  only  as  an  act  of  special 
impiety  towards  the  gods  of  Rome,  but  as  a  grave  infraction 
of  discipline,  and  conden:ined  the  cohort  in  question  to  the 
terrible  military  penalty  of  decimation.^  The  punishment 
had  no  effect.  The  Christian  soldiers  still  resolutely  refused 
to  take  part  in  the  solemn  idolatrous  rites  arranged  by  the 
Emperor.  Again  Maximian  decimated  the  brave  soldier-con- 
fessors. In  spite  of  the  chastisement  they  still  stood  firm. 
The  cruel  Emperor,  upon  their  reiterated  refusal,  ordered  a 
massacre  of  the  whole  band.  Under  the  orders  of  their 
captain,  a  devoted  Christian  named  Maurice,  they  offered  no 
resistance,  and  the  whole  cohort  was  cut  down. 

The  terrible  story  comes  to  us  in  a  letter  of  Eucherius, 
Bishop  of  Lyons,  a.d.  435-50,  written  to  a  brother  bishop,  one 
Salvius,  scarcely  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  martyrdom. 
The  letter  of  Eucherius  is  evidently  an  authentic  document ; 
the  evidence  upon  which  he  bases  his  narrative  is  very  detinite. 
He  had  learned  the  story  of  the  martyrdom  from  Isaac,  Bishop 
of  Geneva,  who  received  it  from  Theodorus,  Bishop  (from  a.d. 
349)  of  Octodurum,  a  city  only  a  few  miles  distant  from 
Agaunum.  Theodorus  is  a  known  personality  in  ecclesiastical 
history,  and  was  present  at  the  Council  of  Aquileia  in  a.d. 
381.  He,  as  Tillemont  remarks,  might  well  have  learned  the 
particulars  of  the  dread  event  from  eye-witnesses  of  the  scene 
of  carnage. 

When  Eucherius  wrote,  the  basilica  erected  over  the  grave 
of  these  martyrs  for  the  faith  was  still  standing  in  Agaunum  ;  t 

*  The  detachment  so  punished  drew  lots,  and  every  tenth  soldier,  after  having 
been  scourged,  suffered  decapitation  in  the  presence  of  his  comrades. 

t  The  modern  name  of  the  city  of  Agaunum  is  "  Saint  Maurice,"  the  name 
the  commander  of  the  Theban  cohort.     In  the  sixth  century,  and  even  earlier,  we 


DIOCLETIAN.  403 

numerous  pilgrims  from  distant  lands  were  still  in  the  habit 
of  visiting  the  shrine ;  and  a  tradition  of  miracles  performed 
in  behalf  of  these  devout  pilgrim-worshippers  hung  round 
the  hallowed  spot.  The  one  debatable  point  in  Eucherius' 
letter  is  that  he  placed  the  massacre  of  these  Christian  soldiers 
in  the  period  of  the  great  persecution  of  Diocletian,  which 
burst  out  a  few  years  later  than  the  probable  date  of  the 
occurrence. 

But  such  a  mistake  of  a  very  few  years  is  easily  accounted 
for.  It  would  be  natural  enough  for  a  non-critical  writer  to 
class  such  an  event  among  the  many  awful  incidents  of  the 
great  persecution  which  harried  the  Christians  in  all  parts 
of  the  Empire  so  soon  after  the   Agaunum  tragedy. 

The  authenticity  of  the  story  has  been  much  contested 
by  critics  who  have  made  much  of  the  silence  of  the  eccle- 
siastical historians,  Eusebius,  Lactantius,  Sulpicius  Severus, 
and  Orosius,  and  of  the  Christian  poet  Prudentius.  Of 
these,  by  far  the  most  conspicuous,  Eusebius,  dwells  in  detail 
upon  the  martyrs  of  the  Eastern  portion  of  the  Empire  alone. 
Many  scenes  of  martyrdom  in  the  West  are  passed  over  in 
his  history,  for  reasons  to  be  discussed  later.  Lactantius 
again  describes  the  persecutors  rather  than  the  persecuted, 
and  gives  us  only  a  general  picture  of  the  persecution,  in- 
dulging in  comparatively  few  details.  Sulpicius  Severus  and 
Orosius  do  not  profess  to  treat  of  these  events  in  detail. 
The  Spanish  poet  Prudentius  largely  confines  his  hymns  and 
poems  to  Spanish  confessors,  and  a  few  of  the  more  con- 
spicuous Roman  martyrdoms.  The  "silence"  of  these  writers 
here  cannot  invalidate  the  clear  simple  testimony  of  Bishop 
Eucherius,    supported     as     it    is    by   a    widespread    tradition 

have  various  references  to  the  martyrdom  of  the  "  Theban  Legion,"  as,  for  instance, 
amongst  others  in  the  Martyrology  of  S.  Jerome,  S.  Gregory  of  Tours  refers 
to  it.  S.  Maurice,  the  chief  officer  of  the  band,  has  been  ever  honoured  as  the 
patron  saint  of  the  "Valais,"  and  various  churches  in  France,  Germany,  Italy, 
8pain,  etc.,  bear  his  name.  The  ancient  royal  House  of  Savoy,  the  present  rulers 
of  Italy,  from  very  early  times  adopted  Maurice  as  the  patron  saint  of  their 
famous  family.  When  the  Canton  of  Valais  ceased  to  form  part  of  the  dominion 
of  the  House  of  Savoy,  half  of  the  hallowed  relics  of  the  martyrs  of  the  "  Theban 
Legion"  were  translated  with  gTeat  ceremony  to  Turin  and  deposited  in  the 
Cathedral  there;  this  was  in  a.d.  loSl. 


404  EAELY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    TAOANISM. 

which  has  left  its  mark  deep  and  broad  m  the  country 
where  the  event  is  related  to  have  taken  place. 

We  have,  therefore,  treated  it  as  actual  history ;  with 
Tillemont,  Riiinart,  and  many  other  serious  writers.  In 
later  times  Allard,  the  French  scholar,  in  his  learned  and 
exhaustive  "History  of  the  Persecutions,"  writing  in  the  last 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  after  a  long  and  searching 
examination  of  the  evidence  for  this  tragic  event,  unhesi- 
tatingly accepts  it  as  an  important  piece  of  authentic  history  ; 
considering  that  the  bitter  animosity  undoubtedly  shown  by 
Maximian  to  Christianity  in  Gaul  in  the  years  immediately 
following  the  '  Agaunum  tragedy  was  largely  owing  to  the 
bitter  feeling  excited  in  his  mind  by  the  Legion's  resolute 
defiance  of  orders;  implying  in  his  view  that  the  Christians 
were  disloyal  to  the  Empire  and  its  immemorial  policy. 
This  animosity  was  displayed  during  his  residence  in  Gaul 
between  286  and  292,  while  Diocletian  in  the  East  was  still 
tolerating,  if  not  favouring,  the  sect. 

There  are  various  "Acts  of  Martyrs"  extant  purporting 
to  treat  of  this  persecution.  These  "  Acts,"  however,  are  not 
contemporary,  and  have  suffered  much  from  legendary  inter- 
polations ;  but  they  have  a  general  value  as  proving  that 
the  Christians  in  Gaul  did  undergo  considerable  sufferings — 
fitfully,  perhaps,  and  without  the  promulgation  of  any  special 
edict.  The  existing  edicts  gave  handles  enough  if  the 
authorities  chose  to  act  on  them. 

The  "  Acts "  in  question  speak  of  persecution  under 
Maximian's  authority  in  the  districts  round  Paris  (Lutetia), 
in  the  west  at  Nantes,  in  the  north  at  Amiens  and  Beau- 
vais,  in  the  north-east  at  Soissons  and  Rheims,  in  the  south 
at  Agen  and  Marseilles.  The  traditional  martyrdom  of  S. 
Alban  in  Britain  belongs  to  this  same  date,  and  is  usually 
placed  circa  a.d.  286. 

In  the  Eastern  provinces  of  the  Empire,  during  these  six 
years,  the  position  of  Christians  was  generally  favourable. 
The  influence  of  the  Palace  ofiicials,  and  of  the  wife  and 
daughter  of  Diocletian,  no  doubt  contributed  to  this  policy. 
Christianity  in   the   districts   directly   under  Diocletian's    rule 


DIOCLETIAN.  405 

was  exceptionally  strong,  both  in  the  numbers^  and  in  the 
position  of  its  votaries.  As  we  have  noticed  in  some  of  our 
earlier  sections  Asia  Minor  and  its  wealthy  cities,  from  the 
last  quarter  of  the  first  century  onwards,  was  peculiarly  the 
home  of  the  worshippers  of  Jesus. 

We  have  several  times  had  occasion  to  dwell  upon  the  fact 
that  under  the  Emperors  who  were  not  unfavourable  to  Chris- 
tianity many  Christian  citizens  were  permitted  to  fill  various 
civic  oflices,  every  facility  being  given  to  them  to  discharge  such 
functions  without  sharing  in  any  public  acknowledgment  of  the 
religion  of  the  state  ;  while  the  policy  of  the  rulers  of  the 
Church  generally  made  such  a  sharing  in  public  duties  easy  and 
practicable  to  the  members  of  Christian  communities.  The 
Canons  of  the  well-known  early  Council  of  the  Church,  Hhberisj 
(Elvira,  in  the  province  of  Spanish  Granada) ,  throw  considerable 
light  on  this  point,  and  give  us  some  definite  information 
respecting  the  inner  life  of  the  Catholic  communities  at  the 
time. 

In  this  Council,  Canons  were  passed  in  which  the  position 
of  members  of  the  community  occupying  various  municipal 
offices  of  importance  is  gravely  considered ;  without  directly 
approving  the  undertaking  the  duties  of  such  public  functions 
the  Church  distinctly  contemplates  such  cases  as  not  of  unfre- 
quent  occurrence,  and  is  careful  not  to  discourage  them  by  too 

*  It  is  not,  of  course,  possible  to  give  any  exact  account  of  the  number  of 
Christians  in  the  Empire  at  the  period  of  the  breaking  oat  of  the  last  and  most 
terrible  of  the  persecutions  in  a.d.  302-3.  We  can  only  give  an  approximation  of 
the  numbers.  The  total  population  of  the  whole  Empire  at  this  period  is  generally 
estimated  at  about  a  hundred  millions.  In  the  East  the  Christians  were  decidedly 
more  numerous  than  in  the  West,  and  scholars  have  estimated  that  in  the 
provinces  of  Asia  Minor  and  the  East  about  a  tenth  of  the  population  were  Chris- 
tians; in  the  Western  provinces  about  a  fifteenth.  On  the  whole,  it  would  seem 
not  an  unreasonable  supposition  to  estimate  the  Christian  population  of  the  Empire 
at  the  end  of  the  third  century  at  about  seven  to  nine  millions.  The  expressions, 
however,  of  TertuUian,  cited  above  (p.  232),  even  allowing  for  rhetorical  exaggera- 
tion, would  seem  to  require  a  much  larger  estimate. 

f  The  exact  date  of  the  Council  of  liliberis  or  Eliberis  (Elvira)  has  been  much 
disputed;  that  usually  given  is  circa  a.d.  303—1,  but  a  somewhat  earlier  date  is 
more  probable,  before  the  great  persecution.  The  period  of  comparative  quietness 
between  a.d.  286  and  a.d.  292,  and  the  general  position  of  the  Church  in  the  Empire, 
best  fits  in  with  the  state  of  things  described  in  the  Canons  of  this  Council. 


406  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

severe  penalties.  For  instance,  if  the  garlands  and  insignia  of 
priests  of  the  temple  are  required  to  be  worn  on  certain  occasions 
by  the  civic  functionaries  in  question,  these  Christian  office- 
bearers are  to  be  separated  from  communion  for  two  years,  and 
during  their  year  of  office  are  not  to  enter  a  church.  It  is 
to  be  observed  that  the  Christians  who  undertook  numicipal 
offices  never  actually  sacrificed  or  gave  public  games,  but 
instead  defrayed  the  cost  of  some  work  of  public  utility,  such 
as  the  building  of  a  bridge  or  basilica,  or  the  making  of  a 
road.  In  some  cases  the  distribution  of  a  sum  of  money  was 
substituted  for  the  costly  show  in  the  amphitheatre.  It  must 
be  borne  in  mind,  too,  that  the  general  temper  of  this  Illiberis 
Council  in  which  nineteen  Bishops  and  twenty-six  priests  sat, 
was  most  austere,  resembling  in  the  strictness  of  some  of  its 
Canons  a  Puritan  or  Novatian,  rather  than  a  Catholic  Council ; 
which  renders  the  fact  of  the  imposition  of  these  comparatively 
light  penances  still  more  remarkable.  The  formal  decisions 
arrived  at  in  such  a  Council  as  that  of  Illiberis  emphatically 
show  that,  in  the  period  immediately  preceding  the  final  terrible 
persecution,  the  general  policy  of  the  heads  of  the  Church  in 
relation  to  the  State  was  still  that  which  had  been  laid  down  by 
the  Church  of  Rome  in  opposition  to  Tertullian  and  Hippolytus. 
The  proceedings  of  this  same  famous  Illiberis  Council 
give  us  various  details  respecting  another  phase  of  the  inner 
life  of  the  Church  at  the  close  of  the  third  century.  Historians 
have  been  too  ready  to  attribute  to  the  Christian  communities 
a  general  spirit  of  laxity  and  worldliness  at  this  particular 
period,  basing  their  unfavourable  conclusions  chiefly  on  some 
expressions  of  Eusebius  {H.  E.,  viii.  1).  But  the  careful 
enumeration  of  the  faults  and  errors  which  existed  in  the 
Christian  Society  of  the  time,  as  reported  in  the  proceedings 
of  this  austere  Council,  demonstrate  to  us  how  high  was  the 
ideal  proposed  and  taught  by  responsible  Catholic  teachers. 
Such  severity  would  not  have  been  possible  if  the  offenders 
particularised  had  been  numerous  in  the  communities,  or  if 
public  Christian  opinion  had  in  any  way  countenanced  such 
laxity  in  ordinary  life.  Indeed,  the  resolute  and  noble  stand 
made  by  the  Christians  generally  in  the  East  and  West  when 


DIOCLETIAN.  407 

the  persecution  broke  out  in  the  first  part  of  the  fourth  century 
is  a  plain  contradiction  to  any  such  supposition. 

In  the  earlier  years  of  Diocletian's  reign  the  Christian 
communities,  apparently  for  the  first  time,  ventured  in  many 
cities  to  build  important  churches,  and  to  call  in  the  aid  of 
art  to  decorate  and  beautify  their  homes  of  prayer  and  praise. 
One  of  the  Canons  of  the  Spanish  Council  to  which  we  have 
been  referring  alludes  to  this  last  somewhat  novel  innovation  * 
in  terms  of  stern  reprobation. 

Whilst,  however,  in  the  provinces,  and  particularly  in  the 
Eastern  cities,  a  false  sense  of  security  lived  in  the  many 
communities,  in  Rome  a  haunting  sense  of  the  extreme  pre- 
cariousness  of  the  position  seems  to  have  brooded  over  the 
Church.  There,  far  more  conspicuously  than  in  any  other 
centre  of  the  Empire,  Paganism  was  a  visible  power,  with  its 
splendid  ritual,  its  stately  temples,  its  immemorial  traditions. 
There  the  worship  of  the  immortals  preserved  its  time- 
honoured  intimate  connection  with  the  ceremonials  of  the 
Senate  and  the  chief  magistrates  of  the  Empire,  who  were 
shorn  of  their  ancient  power,  but  who  still  preserved  the 
outward  and  visible  insignia  of  their  long  inherited  dignity. 

In  Rome  during  the  years  of  stillness  which  preceded  the 
great  storm,  the  chiefs  of  the  Christian  community,  instead  ot" 
erecting  and  adorning  new  and  large  churches,  as  seems  to 
have  been  the  case  in  many  of  the  provincial  centres,  busied 
themselves  rather  in  their  subterranean  city  of  the  dead,t 
preparing  quiet  sanctuaries  where  they  might  meet  for  prayer 

*  The  paintings  and  decoration  of  the  catacombs  of  course  date  fi  om  a  much 
earlier  period ;  but  with  a  few  exceptions  these  catacomb  paintings  were  of  a 
simple  unobtrusive  character.  It  would  seem  that  the  churches  which  arose  in 
the  latter  years  of  the  third  century  were  adorned  in  a  much  more  ambitious  way. 

t  Much  of  the  catacomb  work,  according  to  De  Rossi,  especiallj'  in  the 
adaptation  of  corridors  and  sepulchral  chambers  for  worship,  belongs  to  the  last 
quarter  of  the  third  century,  and  particidarly  to  the  earlier  days  of  Diocletian's 
reign.  Allard  QPersecution  de  DlocUtteii,  vol.  i.,  chaps,  i.-xi.)  quotes  from 
a  Latin  Mass  of  this  period  a  solemn  prayer  which  evidently  looks  forward  to  a 
time  of  peril,  probably  near  at  hand,  in  which  the  ministering  priest  jirays  God 
for  a  heart  which  icill  continue  to  serve  Him  truly  if  "  quietness'''  still  smiles  on  the 
Church,  hut  which  will  not  deny  Him  if  the  day  of  temptation  comes  on  the  Church 
(Hi  quies  adrideat,  te  colere,  ei  temptatio  ingruat  non  negare). 


■1U8  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

and  communion  in  those  darker  times  which  they  felt  might 
and  probably  would  soon  come  upon  them  again. 

The  attitude  of  Paganism  when  the  last  and  most  formidable 
attack  ever  made  on  Christianity  was  imminent,  had  greatly 
changed  in  the  half  century  which  preceded  the  accession  of 
Diocletian.  We  have  already  called  attention  to  the  silent 
reformation  which  had  permeated  the  old  behefs.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  new  teaching  was  in  large  measure  derived 
from  Christianity,  whose  great  influence  had  made  itself  felt  in 
all  the  centres  of  the  Empire  ;  a  strange  and  novel  monotheism 
was  gradually  but  surely  taking  the  place  of  the  multiplicity 
of  objects  of  worship  enshrined  in  the  old  college  of  immortals 
— "  The  Universal  Deity  of  the  East,  the  sun,  to  the  philosophic 
was  the  emblem  or  representative,  to  the  vulgar  the  Deity."* 
In  some  places  the  sun  was  Avorshipped  under  the  name  of 
Apollo,  more  frequently  as  Mithras,  the  purifying  fire;  in 
Egypt  as  Serapis,  in  Syria  as  Baal.  The  many  gods  of  the 
older  world  were  curiously  placed  in  the  new  Pagan  teaching 
on  a  lower  platform,  and,  if  adored  at  all,  were  worshipped  as 
subordinate  spirits  or  daemons.  It  is  true  that  Diocletian  clung 
outwardly  to  the  old  cult  when  he  adopted  the  title  of  Jovius, 
and  induced  his  colleague  in  the  Empire  to  style  himself  after 
the  hero-Qfod  as  Herculius.  But  when  in  the  famous  scene  in 
the  camp  of  the  murdered  Numerian  he  slew  the  factious 
prsefect  Aper,  it  was  to  the  sun-god  he  solemnly  appealed 
when  he  asserted  his  innocence  of  the  murder  before  the 
assembled  army  of  Rome  ;  and  later  we  shall  see,  when  the 
question  of  persecution  or  no  persecution  of  the  Christian 
peoples  was  in  the  balance,  the  same  statesman-Emperor 
betook  himself,  not  to  the  priests  of  Jupiter,  but  to  the  oracle 
of  Apollo,  the  sun-god  of  Miletus,  for  advice  upon  the  tre- 
mendous question  at  issue. 

Nor  was  this  Pagan  Monotheism  without  its  effect  on 
Christianity;  attempts  seem  seriously  to  have  been  made 
in  various  quarters  to  bring  about  an  understanding  between 
the  two  religions,  and  it  is  said  that  some  Christians  here 
and   there   were   induced   to   make   common  cause  with  their 

*  Dean  Milman :  Mist,  of  Christianity,  Vol.  II.,  Book  II.,  Chap.  IX. 


DIOGLETIAN.  409 

Pagan  foes  aud  their  new  presentment  of  their  cult.  But 
only  a  very  few  were  led  mto  the  devious  paths  of  this  new 
Paganism;  the  great  majority  were  steadfast  to  the  faith 
for  which  so  many  of  their  fathers  had  given  up  life  and 
all  that  seems  to  make  life  pleasant  and  dear,  and  for  which 
they  too  were  soon  to  be  called  to  make  a  like  sacrifice. 

In  line  with  the  Neo-Paganism,  with  the  religion  of  the 
State,  the  cult  professed  by  the  bulk  of  the  official  classes,  by 
the  patrician  order,  and  by  the  vast  majority^  of  the  people 
in  the  years  immediately  preceding,  and  during  the  period 
of  the  deadly  conflict,  outwardly  at  least  were  ranged  the 
philosophers  of  the  time ;  not  a  very  distinguished  or  powerful 
group,  but  one  which,  through  their  bitter  and  incisive 
writings  against  Christianity,  exercised  a  not  inconsiderable 
influence  on  the  side  of  Paganism.  This  group  of  philosophers 
is  generally  known  as  the  Neo-Platonists.  They  had  existed 
as  a  school  of  teachers  for  some  half  a  century  when  Diocletian 
ascended  the  throne  of  the  Csesars,  and  their  principal  repre- 
sentative during  Diocletian's  reign  was  Porphyry. 

Porphyry  and  his  fellow  teachers  had  really  very  little 
in  common  with  the  new  Paganism  of  the  day,  still  less 
were  they  in  sympathy  with  the  older  Paganism  of  the 
Empire ;  indeed.  Porphyry  is  reported  to  have  said  that 
"  the  older  conceptions  of  God  are  such  that  it  is  more 
impious  to  share  them  than  it  is  to  slight  the  images  of 
the  gods."  But  in  spite  of  such  a  contemptuous  estimate 
of  the  old  Roman  cult,  he  supported  the  cause  of  every 
old  national  religion,  and  the  ceremonial  duties  of  its  adherents. 
Of  Christianity,  however,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  the 
sleepless  opponent.  He  professed  to  admire  the  moral  beauty 
and  the  holiness  of  the  founder  of  Christianity,  but  he  con- 
demned with  a  tireless  pen  the  people  who  worshipped  Him 
as  their  God  with  what  seemed  to  him  a  strange  inexplicable 

*  We  have  already  discussed  the  probable  numbers  of  Christians  in  the 
Empire  under  Diocletian  and  his  colleague,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that 
we  put  them  as  about  seven  to  nine  millions  out  of  a  population  numbering 
roughly  a  hundred  millions.  Thus  the  expression  '"The  vast  majority  of  the 
people"  is  fairly  justified. 


410  EARLY   CHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

passion  of  devotion.  He  was  a  great  student  of  the  sacred 
writings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  but  with  the  one 
object  of  undermining  their  testimony  and  destroying  their 
enormous  and  abiding  influence.  He  failed  completely,  as 
we  shall  see,  in  all  his  efforts  directed  against  Christianity; 
as  others  have  in  like  manner  signally  failed  who  in  later 
ages  have  been  inspired  by  Porphyry's  spirit,  and  have 
imitated  Porphyry's  methods.* 

Porphyry's  example  as  a  writer  against  Christianity  was 
followed  by  other  members  of  the  school,  whose  works,  as 
far  as  we  are  able  to  gauge,  were  coloured  with  an  extra- 
ordinary bitterness  against  the  religion  of  Jesus.  Indeed, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  of  these  philosophic  scholars, 
Hierocles,  has  been  by  some  considered  as  the  prompter  of 
the  great  persecution. 

SECTION    II. — SECOND    PERIOD:    THE    DIVIDED    EMPIRE. 

The  five  or  six  years'  experience  of  the  results  of  dividing 
the  Imperial  dignity  and  responsibilities  had  been  on  the  whole 
fairly  successful,  and  during  these  years  no  further  barbarian 
invasion  of  any  serious  importance  had  disturbed  the  Empire; 
but   in   A.D.    291    threatened   raids   or   revolts   on   many   sides 

*Allarcl,  Persecution  de  Dioclctieii,!.,  i.,  2,  ii.,  has  some  very  interesting  and 
suggestive  comparisons  between  the  great  Pagan  philosopher  of  the  last  age  of 
Paganism,  and  some  well-known  modern  adverse  critics  of  Christianity.  "  Porphyre 
serait  '  le  Renan '  du  paganisme.  .  .  .  Sa  critique  parait  d'hier ;  il  afErme 
que  les  prophcties  de  Daniel  ont  ete  ecrites  apres  coup,  puisque  I'evenement  les 
montre  accomplies.  .  .  .  Le  nouveau  Testament  est  particuliereinent  passe 
au  ci'ible.  Comme  fera  Strauss,  il  s'efforce  de  montrer  des  contradictions,  des 
inexactitudes,  des  invraisemblances.  S'elevant  parfois  a  des  vues  plus  hardies, 
il  devance  I'ecole  de  Tubingue  en  mettant  en  lumiere  le  pretendu  antagonisrae 
de  S.  Pierre  et  de  S.  Paul.  Par  le  souvenir  de  la  fortune  qu'ont  eue  de  nos 
jours  cette  recherche  des  antinomies,  ou  ces  hautaines  affirmations,  accompagnees 
parfois  d'hommages  attcndris  a  la  personne  de  Jesus  separe  de  ses  disciples  et  de 
son  ceuvre,  on  se  rendra  compte  de  I'eflet  que  les  quinze  livres  de  Porphyre  doivent 
produire  sur  1' opinion  des  contemporains."  Porphyry's  great  work  here  referred  to, 
his  fifteen  books  "against  the  Christians,"  was  destroj^ed.  It  was  condemned  by 
an  edict  of  the  Emperor  Theodosius  II.,  a.  u.  448,  and  even  the  answers  to  it 
by  men  like  Eusebius,  ApoUinaris,  etc.,  have  been  lost.  But  we  possess  copious 
extracts  from  it  in  Lactantius,  Augustine,  Jerome,  etc.  This  famous  anti-Chris- 
tian philosopher  was  born  at  Tyre  circa  a.d.  233  and  died  circa  a.d.  303. 


DIOCLETIAN.  411 

imperatively  called  for  the  presence  of  an  Emperor  and  an 
army  on  each  frontier.  Diocletian  determined  in  292  to  enlarge 
further  his  plan  of  government  by  the  association  of  two  more 
sovereign  princes  under  the  title  of  Caesars,  who  were  attached 
in  a  subordinate  capacity  to  the  two  senior  Emperors,  stj-led 
"  Augusti."  The  Caesars  were  to  enjoy  the  right  of  succession 
to  the  Augusti,  and  thus  the  ever- recurring  danger  of  a  popular 
or  tumultuary  election  of  an  Emperor  was  at  least  minimised. 

The  choice  of  Diocletian  fell  on  two  distinguished  soldiers, 
both  trained  in  the  military  school  of  Aurelian  and  Probus ; 
Galerius,  who  became  attached  to  his  Eastern  portion  of  the 
Empire ;  and  Constantius,  surnamed  Chlorus  (the  pale),  who 
assumed  the  position  of  the  Assistant-Emperor  to  Maximian 
in  the  West.  Galerius  was  peasant-born,  and  had  risen  to 
high  rank  owing  to  his  military  capacity.  He  was  rough, 
cruel,  ignorant,  and  masterful,  though  at  the  same  time  he  was 
acknowledged  to  be  an  able  and  successful  general.  Constantius 
Chlorus,  on  the  other  hand,  while  a  brilliant  soldier,  loved 
peace,  and  in  his  temper  and  tastes  was  in  most  respects  the 
opposite  of  the  rough  and  stern  Galerius.  He  was  nobly 
born,  his  mother  being  the  niece  of  the  famous  Emperor 
Claudius. 

In  religious  matters  Galerius  was  a  fanatical  and  supersti- 
tious Pagan,  while  Constantius,  though  attached  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Neo- Pagan  School  of  which  we  have  spoken,  was 
in  no  way  opposed  to  Christianity ;  indeed,  he  was  ever 
kindly  disposed  to  the  followers  of  Jesus,  perhaps  owing  to 
the  influence  of  his   first  wife,  Helena,'^  who,  according   to   a 

*  S.  Helena,  afterwards  famous  in  Christian  history,  is  generally  supposed  to 
have  been  of  very  low  extraction  ;  she  is  currently  described  as  originally  a  servant 
at  an  inn.  Although  the  laws  of  Eome  did  not  give  the  title  of  wife  to  a  woman 
lowly  born  married  to  one  in  the  higher  grade  of  society,  still  such  a  union  being 
legal  was  recognised  by  the  State.  It  was  a  lawful  marriage  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  save  that  it  did  not  carry  with  it  the  title  of  wife.  On  his  elevation  to 
the  rank  of  Ctesar,  one  of  the  conditions  accepted  by  Constantius  was  that  he  should 
marry  the  daughter  of  Maximian  the  Augustus ;  Helena  was  then  repudiated  and 
divorced.  Constantine  the  Great,  however,  the  son  of  Constantius  Chlorus  and 
Helena,  succeeded  to  the  dignity  of  his  father,  being  preferred  to  the  issue  of  the 
second  marriage.  It  would  thus  seem  that  the  first  marriage  was  deemed  a  legal 
union.     On  the  question  of  the  Christianity  of  Helena,  Theodoret,  who  wrote  in  the 


412  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY    AND    PAGANISM. 

tradition  of  authority,  was  already  a  Christian  during  the 
boyhood  of  her  son,  afterwards  known  as  Constantine  the  Great. 

This  further  partition  of  the  East  and  West  was  a  fi-esh 
blow  to  the  cherished  unity  of  the  Empire,  and  to  the  matchless 
dignity  of  the  immemorial  city  which  had  given  its  proud 
name  to  the  mighty  dominion.  Four  Emperors,  each  with 
their  army  and  their  court ;  four  capital  cities,*  the  selected 
residences  of  the  four  wearers  of  the  Imperial  purple ;  completed 
the  work  of  the  first  division  between  Diocletian  and  Maximian, 
and  effectually  obscured  the  oneness  of  the  grand  and  imposing 
creation  of  Augustus  and  his  successors. 

No  doubt  such  a  division  of  the  great  Empire  had  its 
advantages;  it  provided  a  more  ready  and  etfective  means 
of  defence  against  the  ever-iiowing  tide  of  barbarian  invasion, 
while,  to  a  certain  extent,  it  was  a  safeguard  ;i.gainst  the 
constantly  recurring  revolutions  to  which  the  State  vv^as  exposed, 
owing  to  the  facility  with  which  a  turbulent  and  mercenary 
soldiery  could  make  and  unmake  a  solitary  Emperor.  But 
in  spite  of  all  the  precautions  which  the  statesmanlike  foresight 
of  the  creator  of  the  new  Imperial  constitution  could  devise, 
to  use  the  words  of  the  historian  of  the  Decline  and  Fall, 
"  the  political  union  of  the  Roman  world  was  gradually  dissolved, 
and  a  principle  of  division  was  introduced,  which  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years  occasioned  the  perpetual  separation  of  the 
Eastern  and  Western  Empires." 

The  effect  of  these  great  changes  in  the  government  and  the 
Constitution  upon  the  Christian  portion  of  the  population  was 
only  gradually  felt.  No  doubt  the  kindly  feeHngs  of  the 
newly  appomted  Western  Csesar,  Constantius,  towards  Chris- 
tianity in  the  provinces  immediately  under  his  rule,  con- 
tributed to  the  quietness  generally  enjoyed  by  the  worshippers 
of  Jesus ;  and  to  a  certain  extent  their  influence  modified  the 

early  part  of  the  fifth  century,  tells  lis  that  the  principles  of  Christianity  were 
taught  by  his  mother  to  the  hoy  Constantine  (the  Great),  but  Eusebiiis,  who  wrote 
about  a  century  earlier  than  Theodoret,  relates  that  originally  Helena  was  not  a 
Christian,  but  was  conA-erted  much  later,  under  the  influence  of  her  son,  the 
Emperor  Constantine. 

*  These  four  capital  cities  were  in  the  first  instance,  Xicomedia  and  Sirmium, 
Slilan  and  Treves. 


DIOCLETIAN.  413 

iitful  persecutions  to  which  the}''  were  exposed  under  Maximian. 
In  the  East,  on  the  other  hand,  where  the  toleration  of 
Diocletian  had  largely  contributed  to  the  development  of 
Christianity,  and  had  emboldened  the  communities  to  make  a 
more  open  profession  of  their  faith  in  such  matters  as  the 
building  and  decorating  of  their  churches,  a  new  and  hostile 
influence  had  arisen  in  the  person  of  the  Coesar  Galerius,  a 
bigoted  and  superstitious  Pagan.  As  time  advanced  the 
ascendancy  of  this  powerful  enemy  of  Christianity  became 
more  pronounced,  and  Diocletian,  whose  health  gradually 
failed  under  the  crushing  burdens  of  government,  passed  more 
and  more  under  the  evil  influence  of  the  Pagan  Emperor  he 
had  created;  and  a  new  policy  of  the  bitterest  persecution 
was  adopted  which,  under  the  name  and  authority  of  Diocletian, 
the  Senior  and  virtual  Chief  of  the  Emperors,  extended  over 
a  large  portion  of  the  Empire. 

The  first  famous  edict  of  Diocletian  directing  a  general 
proscription  of  Christians  was  issued  early  in  a.d.  303.  But 
for  several  years  before  this  date,  we  are  aware  that  in  the 
army  attached  to  the  Ca3sar  Galerius,  the  Christian  soldiers 
had  been  subjected  to  persecution.  At  first  the  respect  and 
awe  with  which  he  naturally  regarded  the  Senior  Emperor, 
who  had  raised  him  from  a  private  situation  to  the  purple, 
kept  him  in  check  ;  and  the  unfortunate  issue  of  his  earlier 
campaign  against  Persia  diminished  his  influence.  But  his 
subsequent  triumph  over  the  eastern  enemies  of  the  Empire, 
a  series  of  victories  which  resulted  in  the  annexation  of  several 
important  provinces,  evidently  placed  Galerius  in  a  new  and 
more  independent  position;  and  he  felt  himself  at  Hberty  to 
carry  out  his  designs  against  the  hated  religion  even  though 
they  were  contrary  to  the  wishes  and  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  policy  of  Diocletian.  The  victorious  campaign  against 
Persia  was  completed  in  A.r).  297-8,  and  between  this  date 
and  the  year  302-3  must  be  placed  the  various  attempts  of 
Galerius  to  eradicate,  or  at  least  to  diminish,  the  growling 
influence  of  Christianity  in  the  armies  under  his  command. 

The  policy  pursued  seems,  from  Eusebius'  words  (H.  E., 
viii.    1    and   4),   to   have   been   devised   in   the  hope   of  more 


414  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

easily  overcoming  the  scruples  of  the  Christians  serving  in 
the  armies  of  the  Emperor ;  the  advisers  of  Galerius  reckoned 
that,  if  these  were  compelled  or  persuaded  to  renounce  their 
faith,  the  victory  of  Paganism  over  those  in  civil  life  who 
professed  Christianity  would  be  comparatively  easy.  Galerius 
evidently  knew  little  of  the  history  of  the  Faith  in  former 
years,  and  strangely  miscalculated  the  constancy  of  Christians  ! 
The  Caesar  began  by  methodically  testing  the  strength  of  his 
soldiers'  convictions;  requiring  the  different  divisions  of  the 
army  to  take  part  in  formal  and  public  idolatrous  ceremonies, 
and  giving  notice  that  if  any  disobeyed  the  general's  orders 
they  would  forfeit  their  rank  and  the  various  privileges 
which  many  of  them  as  veteran  legionaries  enjoyed.  Eusebius 
goes  on  to  tell  us  that  numbers  of  these  legionaries,  who  were 
soldiers  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  without  hesitancy  preferred 
the  confession  of  the  Name  to  the  apparent  glory  and 
comfort  which  they  enjoyed ;  and  of  these  a  few  exchanged 
their  honours  not  only  for  degradation  but  even  for  death. 
These  last,  however,  who  suffered  this  extreme  penalty  were 
not  yet  many.  The  great  number  of  believers  found  in  his 
army  probably  deterred  Galerius  and  caused  him  to  shrink 
from  a  general  attack  upon  all. 

Among  the  more  prominent  of  those  few  who  died  for 
the  Faith  at  this  time  were  the  well-known  martyr-officers 
Sergius  and  Bacchus.  A  general  tradition  speaks  of  these 
two  confessors  as  originally  standing  high  in  the  Imperial 
favour.  They  attained  an  extraordinary  popularity  in  early 
timeb — many  churches  erected  after  the  Constantinian  Edict 
of  Peace  of  a.d.  313  were  named  after  them;  among  which 
the  circular-shaped  basilica  of  SS.  Sergius  and  Bacchus 
erected  at  Constantinople  by  Justinian  very  early  in  the 
sixth  century  is,  perhaps,  the  most  remarkable.  Their  fame 
extended  far  beyond  the  limits  of  Galerius'  sphere  of  influ- 
ence, and  we  find  even  in  distant  Gaul  a  church  dedicated 
to  their  memory  as  far  north  as  Chartres.  Two  of  the 
"  Acts  "  of  martyrs  of  this  period,  generally  accepted  as  genuine 
contemporary  pieces,  have  come  down  to  us,  viz.,  "  The  Acts 
of  S.  Julius  "  and  "  The  Acts  of  SS.  Marcianus  and  Nicander." 


DIOCLETIAN.  415 

The  simple  details  of  their  trial  and  brave  constancy  are  no 
doubt  accurate  pictures  of  the  suiYerings  undergone  for  the 
Faith's  sake.  Seemingly  small  concessions  to  the  Pagan 
worship  favoured  by  the  Emperor  would  have  procured  for 
these  soldiers  life  and  even  high  honour,  but  they  preferred 
the  martyr's  painful  death,  rather  than  deny  their  Lord. 
Some  strangely  pathetic  circumstances  related  in  the  evidently 
circumstantial  narrative  of  the  "  Acts "  accompanied  the  trial 
scene  of  Nicander.  His  wife,  Daria,  who  was  present,  encouraged 
her  husband  in  his  resistance  to  the  Imperial  commands.  "0  my 
Lord,"  the  brave  woman  is  reported  to  have  said,  "take  care 
how  you  deny  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Look  up  to  heaven, 
you  will  surely  see  Him  there  in  whom  you  must  believe. 
He  will  help  you."  And  when  insulting  words  were  spoken 
to  this  true  Christian  lady,  she  asked  for  herself  the  boon  of 
dying  first  for  Christ. 

The  persecution,  however,  between  a.d.  297-8  and  302 
seems  to  have  been  confined  strictly  to  the  army.  There 
are  records  which  evidently  point  to  a  similar  harrying  of 
Christian  soldiers  at  the  same  period  in  the  dominion  of 
Maximian  Herculius,  colleague  of  Diocletian,  especially  in 
North  Africa  and  Italy ;  and  towards  the  end  of  the  period 
the  insistence  of  Galerius,  whose  influence  over  the  elder 
Emperor  was  gradually  increasing,  prevailed  to  a  certain 
extent  with  Diocletian,  who  issued  similar  directions  to  the 
officers  of  his  army,  insisting  upon  the  duty  of  sacrificing  to 
the  gods  of  Rome.  But  in  no  case  does  it  seem  that  a 
death  penalty  was  exacted  as  yet  in  his  armies. 

Diocletian  was  prematurely  old.  He  was  not  sixty  when 
his  health  failed  him  ;  years  of  toil,  the  cares  of  government, 
the  restless  anxiety  of  his  busy,  successful  life  had  worn 
him  out.  The  gorgeous  and  elaborate  magnificence  of  the 
palace  which  he  had  caused  to  be  erected  at  Salona,  on  the 
Adriatic,  to  which  he  retired  after  his  abdication  in  the  late 
spring  of  a.d.  305,  seems  to  tell  us  that  he  had  long  meditated 
his  design  of  quitting  the  scenes  of  his  greatness.  At  all 
events,  in  the  last  months  of  a.d.  302,  when  Galerius  visited 
him  at  Nicomedia,  his  health  had  begun  to  fail,  and  he  was 


416  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

unable  to  resist  the  urgent  importunities  of  his  younger 
colleague,  who  pressed  him  to  change  his  tolerant  policy. 
Still  reluctant,  however,  to  assume  the  role  of  persecutor 
of  a  very  numerous  sect,  which  reckoned  among  its  numbers 
his  own  wife  and  daughter,  he  summoned  a  Council  to 
consider  the  wisdom  of  adopting  the  anti-Christian  policy 
urged  on  him.  The  opinion  of  this  Council,  although  some- 
what divided,  seems  to  have  been,  on  the  whole,  adverse  to 
Christianity.  No  doubt  the  influence  of  the  younger  Emperor 
coloured  the  spirit  of  the  resolution  of  the  advisers  thus 
called  together.  Diocletian,  in  feeble  health,  a  world-weary 
man,  would  probably  soon  disappear  from  the  scene,  while 
his  younger  colleague,  strong  and  vigorous,  would  at  no  distant 
period  no  doubt  succeed  to  the  supreme  authority;  naturally 
his  views  prevailed.  It  was  determined  that  the  oracle  of 
Apollo  at  Miletus,  a  famous  Pagan  shrine,  should  be  con- 
sulted on  this  all-important  question.  Lactantius  simply 
tells  us  that  the  reply  of  the  oracle  was  such  as  an  enemy  of 
our  divine  religion  would  give.  Eusebius  in  the  "Life  of 
Constantino"*  adds  some  curious  details. 

The  oracle's  answer  was  a  very  singular  and  ambiguous 
pronouncement.  "  The  god  complained  of  being  unable  to  an- 
nounce what  was  coming  on  the  earth,  oAving  to  the  presence  of 
just  men  who  were  living  in  the  world."  The  superstitious  mind 
of  Diocletian  was  troubled  by  this  reply,  and  he  enquired  who 
were  these  just  men,  enemies  of  the  god  who  prevented  his  speak- 
ing. The  opinion  was  unanimous.  They  Avere  the  Christians. 
This  decided  the  wavering  Emperor.  The  Caesar  Galerius,  the 
god  Apollo,  and  the  Imperial  Councillors  were  evidently  of 
one  mind ;  and  the  terrible  persecution  was  then  arranged. 
Still  Diocletian,  remembering  the  past  prosperity  of  his  reign,  was 
loth  to  proceed  to  extremities,  and,  while  ordering  a  persecution, 
forbade  that  any  Christian  lives  should  be  sacrificed ;  the 
harrying  of  the  sect  was  to  be  confined  to  deprivation  of  rank, 

*  They  are  found  in  Eusebius,  Be  Vita  Constantini,  lib.  ii.,  under  the 
heading  "  Constantini  edictum  ad  provinciales  de  falso  ctiltu  multorum  deoi'um." 
After  Chap.  XLVIII.  the  title  of  the  chapter  runs  thus  :  "  Quod  ex  Apollinis 
oraculo,  qui  ob  justos  homines  responsa  amplius  edere  non  poterat,  mota  sit 
persecutio." 


DIOCLETIAN.  417 

privileges,  and  fortune.  With  this  modified  persecution  the 
Cffisar  Galerius  and  the  Pagan  party  professed  themselves  con- 
tented for  the  present.  They  had  laid  their  plans  skilfully,  and 
were  confident  that  events  would  happen  which  would  speedily 
induce  the  ailing  Diocletian  to  adopt  a  harsher  procedure. 

The  first  persecuting  edict  was  published  at  Nicomedia  in 
the  names  of  Diocletian  and  Galerius  early  in  the  year  303.  It 
was  drastic  in  its  stern  provisions.  (1)  All  assemblies  of 
Christians  w^ere  absolutely  forbidden;  (2)  Christian  churches 
were  to  be  destroyed  ;  (3)  The  Sacred  Books  of  the  Christians 
were  to  be  burned ;  (4)  Rank  and  privileges  were  to  be  taken 
away  from  all  persons  professing  the  religion  of  the  Crucified ; 
henceforth  such  noble  and  privileged  citizens  of  the  Empire 
were  liable  to  torture,  and  lost  their  right  of  appeal  to  any 
tribunal ;  (5)  Those  who  belonged  to  the  lower  grades  of  societj^, 
if  they  persisted  in  their  adherence  to  the  forbidden  religion, 
would  lose  their  liberty;  (6)  Christian  slaves  could  never  receive 
their  fi-eedom. 

The  provisions  of  this  sweeping  edict  were  in  some  respects 
even  more  far-reaching  than  the  anti-Christian  legislation  of  the 
Emperor  Valerian.  The  burning  of  the  sacred  books  was  a  novel 
provision.  The  widely  extended  regulations  as  regards  slavery 
affected  classes  untouched  by  any  previous  edict.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  clergy  were  not  specially  named  by  Diocletian,  and 
the  extreme  penalty  of  death  was  not  mentioned.  This  last 
concession  was  the  remnant  of  the  old  favour  so  long  shown  by 
the  Senior  Emperor  to  the  Christian  sect. 

It  may  well  be  conceived  that  the  provisions  of  this 
terrible  law  struck  the  Christian  communities  who  had  for 
several  years  been  in  the  enjoyment  of  immunity  from  aU 
harassing  persecution  with  dismay  and  astonishment. 

Very  shortly  after  the  promulgation  of  the  first  edict,  a  fire 
broke  out  in  the  Imperial  palace  at  Nicomedia  where  the  two 
Emperors  were  residing.  Fifteen  days  later  another  fire  in  the 
palace  alarmed  Diocletian.  Eusebius  notices  it  briefly  in  the 
following  language  :  "  I  know  not  how  it  happened,  but  there  was 
a  fire  that  broke  out  in  the  Imperial  palace  at  Nicomedia  in  those 
days,  which  by  a  false  suspicion  reported  abroad  was  attributed 

B  B 


418  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   jLND    PAGANISM. 

to  our  brethren  as  the  authors  of  it "  (Eus.,  H.  E.,  viii.  6). 
Lactantius  {De  Mortibus  Fers.,  14,  15)  goes  into  further  details, 
and  openly  charges  Galerius  with  having  contrived  the  fires, 
and  then  accusing  the  Christians  as  the  incendiaries,  hoping 
thus  to  embitter  Diocletian  against  them. 

The  result  certainly  turned  out  as  Galerius  wished.  Diocle- 
tian Avas  thoroughly  alarmed ;  his  sick  fancy  pictured  a  wide- 
spread plot  on  the  part  of  the  harassed  Christian  communities 
to  destroy  him.  He  no  longer  trusted  his  palace  officials,  many 
of  whom  were  Christians. 

His  genuine  terror  was  no  doubt  increased  by  the  hurried 
departure  from  Nicomedia  of  his  younger  colleague  in  the  Empire 
after  the  second  fire  in  the  palace ;  Galerius  professing  to  dread 
being  burned  alive  in  the  Imperial  residence  "  contestans  fugere 
se  ne  vivus  arderet  "  in  Lactantius'  words. 

Then  the  great  persecution,  commonly  known  as  Diocletian's, 
began  in  real  earnest.  In  some  particulars  the  last  of  these 
terrible  onslaughts  of  Paganism  on  Christianity  bore  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  first.  The  primary  reason  for  the  harrying 
of  Christians  under  Nero  singularly  enough  was  the  result  of 
the  charere  brousfht  against  the  sect  of  incendiarism.  The 
current  belief  that  they  were  the  authors  of  the  fires  which  had 
partly  consumed  the  Imperial  residence  at  Nicomedia  deter- 
mined Diocletian  to  crush  them.  There  was  no  longer  any 
hesitation  on  his  part  to  proceed  to  extreme  measures ;  old  and 
long  trusted  palace  officials  were  tortured  and  put  to  death, 
simply  because  they  professed  the  feared  and  hated  religion. 
The  ghastly  details  of  some  of  these  martyrdoms  are  given  at 
length  by  Eusebius.  These  men  endured  their  sufferings  and 
met  their  deaths  with  the  calm  courage  showed  by  so  many 
confessors  of  the  noble  army  of  martyrs.  The  only  recorded 
instances  of  failure  in  the  moment  of  bitter  trial  were  the  two 
princesses,  Prisca  and  Valeria,  the  wife  and  daughter  of  the 
Emperor,  who  both  consented  to  sacrifice. 

Outside  the  palace  walls  the  same  cruel  treatment  was 
meted  out  to  the  leading  personages  in  the  Christian  community 
of  Diocletian's  capital.  The  Bishop  Anthemius,  his  presbyters, 
and  a  number  of  his  clergy  and  their  households  were  put  to  death. 


DIOCLETIAN.  419 

nor  were  tlie  women  and  children  spared.  The  early  days  of 
the  persecution  in  Nicomedia  witnessed  scenes  unparalleled  in 
any  preceding  persecution ;  some  victims  were  taken  out  to 
sea  and  drowned,  others  burned,  and  these  not  in  solitary 
instances,  but  in  whole  companies.  The  prisons  were  crowded. 
New  and  fearful  forms  of  punishment  were  devised  for  these 
hapless  and  innocent  members  of  the  Christian  communities. 
Nicomedia,  the  beautiful  capital  of  the  Eastern  Empire  of 
Diocletian,  will  ever  occupy  in  the  sad  yet  glorious  annals  of  the 
early  story  of  Christianity  a  position  of  prominence.  It  would, 
however,  be  an  exaggerated  picture  of  Christian  constancy  which 
omitted  to  record  any  instances  of  falling  away  among  the 
crowd  of  sufferers  for  the  Faith;  but,  generally  speaking,  the 
Christians  of  Nicomedia  presented  a  spectacle  of  extraordinary 
constancy  and  even  of  superhuman  endurance.  In  other  cities 
of  the  East  the  first  edict  and  the  provisions  of  the  subsequent 
more  severe  proclamations  which  followed,  were  carried  out  with 
more  or  less  rigour,  but  the  instances  of  defection  were  often 
more  numerous  than  at  Nicomedia.  In  Antioch,  for  instance, 
we  hear  of  numbers  of  Christians  falhng  away  in  the  hour  of 
trial. 

At  no  period  had  the  worshippers  of  Jesus  been  exposed 
to  so  rigorous  a  persecution  as  in  those  early  years  of  the 
fourth  century.  No  enemy  to  the  Christian  sect  among  the 
Pagan  rulers  of  Kome  had  arisen  like  Galerius.  He  had 
made  the  cause  of  Paganism  his  own,  and  he  hoped  finally 
to  destroy  the  dangerous  and  powerful  religion  which  he  so 
intensely  hated.  He  was  an  ambitious  and  self-seeking  despot, 
and  probably  calculated  upon  all  the  influence  of  Paganism 
to  support  him  in  his  intrigues  eventually  to  gain  the  supreme 
power  in  the  Empire.  Diocletian,  his  patron,  the  founder  of 
the  new  Imperial  college  of  rulers,  was  sick,  he  thought,  to 
death,  and  Galerius  was  well  aware  of  his  project  of  abdica- 
tion ;  it  was  arranged  that  Maximian  should  abdicate  at  the 
same  time.  Galerius'  influence  with  the  sick  Diocletian  would, 
he  rightly  guessed,  be  sufficient  to  ensure  the  nomination  of 
two  subordinate  Emperors,  who  would  be  creatures  of  his 
own,  to  fill  the  vacant  places  in  the  Imperial  tetrarchy.     Only 


420  EARLY   GERISTIAJSflTY   AND    PAGANISM. 

one  obstacle  remained  to  his  obtaining  the  coveted  posi- 
tion of  supreme  lord  of.  the  Roman  Empire,  in  the  person 
of  the  Western  Emperor  Constantius  Chlorus ;  whose 
quiet  and  unostentatious  career,  however,  seemed  to  suggest 
that  in  him  would  scarcely  be  found  a  formidable  com- 
petitor. 

Under  such  a  coming  master  of  the  Roman  world  the 
future  of  Christianity  seemed  indeed  gloomy.  The  fierce 
edict  of  A.D.  303  was  rapidly  followed,  under  the  inspirati(_)n 
of  Galerius,  by  other  and  yet  more  terrible  anti-Christian 
laws  ;  laws  which  were  directed  against  no  one  special  class 
or  order  among  the  communities  of  the  Church,  but  which 
in  their  comprehensive  scope  affected  all,  clergy,  laity,  legion- 
aries, all  classes  of  the  Christian  society,  rich  and  poor,  noble 
and  servile  alike.  Indeed,  had  they  been  generally  put  into 
execution  throughout  the  provinces  of  the  Empire,  it  is  hardly 
conceivable  that  Christianity  could  have  survived ;  humanly 
speaking,  it  seems  as  though  the  religion  of  Jesus  was  pre- 
served from  annihilation  by  the  new  Imperial  Constitution 
arranged  years  before  by  Diocletian. 

The  edicts  of  persecution  drafted,  to  use  a  modern  term, 
by  Galerius  ran  in  the  names  of  the  four  lords  of  the  Roman 
world,  Diocletian  and  Maximian,  Galerius  and  Constantius 
Chlorus.  In  the  Eastern  Empire  there  was  no  question  re- 
specting the  execution  of  the  edicts ;  here  and  there  a  power- 
ful pro-consul  or  provincial  magistrate,  sympathising  with  the 
persecuted  sect,  might  and  did  soften  the  fury  of  the  pro- 
secution ;  but  generally  the  sufferings  of  the  members  of  the 
sect  who  declined  to  conform  to  the  State  religion  were  very 
terrible.  In  the  Eastern  countries  of  Roman  Europe,  includ- 
ing Greece  and  the  provinces  on  the  Danube,  the  sphere  of 
Galerius'  special  influence,  the  same  may  be  said;  in  Italy 
and  Africa,  the  dominion  under  Maximian,  the  Imperial  edicts 
of  persecution  were,  of  course,  enforced  with  stern  rigour, 
that  Emperor  being  a  cruel  and  superstitious  Pagan.  But  in 
the  West  of  the  Roman  Empire  there  was  a  very  different 
spirit  inspiring  the  Government.  Far  away  from  Diocletian 
and  Galerius,  the  vast   and    wealthy  province  of  Gaul,  which 


DIOCLETIAN.  421 

rouglily  included,^  it  must  be  remembered,  modern  France, 
Switzerland,  the  Low  Countries,  the  Rhenish  provinces  of  the 
modern  German  Empire,  and  the  island  of  Britain,  were  all 
under  the  rule  of  Constantius  Chlorus. 

In  this  great  and  important  division  of  the  Empire,  the 
edicts  emphatically  were,  if  not  ignored,  at  least  very  imper- 
fectly put  in  force  ;  nothing  like  a  persecution,  in  the  grave 
sense  of  the  word,  ever  raged  there.  It  is  scarcely  an  ex- 
aggeration to  say  that  this  great  and  good  ruler  preserved 
Christianity  from  the  most  deadly  peril  to  which  it  had  as  yet 
been  exposed. 

We  have  already  briefly  touched  upon  Constantius'  family 
and  early  life.  He  was  by  birth  a  noble,  his  mother  being 
the  niece  of  the  great  mihtary  Emperor  Claudius,  and  was  a 
trained  soldier.  Of  the  contemporary  historians,  Eusebius  tells 
us  that  the  persecuting  edicts  were  ignored  in  his  provinces ; 
Lactantius  slightly  modifies  this  statement,  and  represents 
Constantius  as  making  a  show  of  conformity  to  the  laws  of 
the  Empire,  in  that  he  ordered  the  destruction  of  some 
churches,  and  even  proceeded  against  certain  professors  of  the 
proscribed  religion ;  but  these  proceedings  seemed  to  have 
been  merely  a  feigned  compliance  with  edicts  to  which  his 
name  was  necessarily  appended,  and  the  Christians  were 
generally  left  unmolested  in  his  broad  provinces  while  their 
brethren  were  enduring  terrible  sufferings  in  Italy,  Africa, 
Spain,  and  in  the  East  of  the  Empire. 

The  question  has  been  asked,  A^^at  motive  induced  Con- 
stantius to  sympathise  with  the  proscribed  religion  ?  Eusebius 
seems  to  have  deemed  him  a  Christian ;  in  his  "  Life  of  Con- 
stantine"  (i.  17),  he  represents  Constantius  Chlorus  as  dedicating 
to  the  One  God  wife  and  children,  his  palace,  and  all  that 
dwelt  in  it,  so  effectively  that  the  frequenters  of  the  palace 
were  much  the  same  as  those  who  made  up  the  congregation 

*  Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall,  chap,  xiii..  Note  14,  referring  to  Tillemont, 
is  in  doubt  whether  Spain  was  among  the  provinces  of  Maximian  or  Constantius. 
It  seems,  however,  without  doubt  that  the  persecution  during  the  years  303-4 
and  part  of  305  was  very  active  in  this  province.  Maximian,  therefore,  must  have 
been  su2:)reme  in  Spain. 


422  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  a  cliurcli,  and  as  loving  to  surround  himself  with  Christian 
priests  and  bishops.  This  picture,  however,  which  paints 
Constantius  as  a  Christian  seems  scarcely  accurate ;  for  Chris- 
tian writers,  who  are  never  weary  of  describing  the  conversion 
of  his  son,  afterwards  known  as  Constantme  the  Great,  say 
comparatively  little  of  the  father ;  whereas  Pagan  writers  speak 
of  him  with  an  enthusiasm  which  they  would  scarcely  have  felt 
for  a  declared  enemy  of  the  gods  of  Rome. 

Constantius  probably  belonged  to  the  school — a  fairly 
numerous  body  in  his  days — of  enlightened  Pagans,  who, 
without  breaking  with  the  popular  Pagan  ideas,  had  a  dim 
conception  of  the  unity  of  God ;  he  was  probably  tolerant 
of  all  forms  of  belief;  perhaps  he  had  an  especial  sympathy 
with  Christianit}^  and  encouraged  and  even  courted  its  pro- 
fessors. The  "pale"  Emperor,  whose  quiet,  noble  life  was 
spent  in  successfully  fighting  with  the  enemies  of  his  country 
and  in  ruling  with  justice  his  widespread  dominions ;  whose 
reign,  according  to  the  testimony  of  both  Pagan  and  Christian 
writers,  was  unstained  by  cruelty  or  by  crime,  and  who  was 
invariably  kind  and  gentle  to  all  his  subjects;  stands  out  a 
very  noble  figure  among  the  group  of  ambitious  and  per- 
secuting princes  who,  after  Diocletian's  division  of  the  Empire, 
successively  filled  the  various  Imperial  thrones  of  the  East 
and  West. 

The  importance  of  Constantius'  policy  towards  Christianity 
in  her  darkest  hour  can  scarcely  be  overrated.  The  bitterest 
and  most  unrelenting  persecution  was  making  havoc  of  the 
Church  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  East,  as  well  as  in  Italy 
and  Greece,  Africa  and  Spain.  Successive  edicts,  each  sur- 
passing the  last  in  severity,  were  being  put  forth  by  the 
Imperial  Chancery  under  the  direction  of  Galerius,  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  utterly  destroying  Christianity  in  the 
Roman  Empire ;  but  the  knowledge  that  in  Gaul,  the  great 
province  of  the  West,  a  totally  different  policy  was  being 
pursued  by  the  powerful  and  honoured  ruler  of  that  portion 
of  the  Empire,  largely  neutralised  the  deadening  and  numbing 
influence  of  Galerius'  work.  No  doubt  those  magistrates  in 
the   persecuted  districts    who    sympathised    with    Christianity 


DIOCLETIAN.  423 

were  encouraged  secretly  to  favour  the  proscribed  sect,  and, 
as  far  as  was  possible,  to  check  persecution ;  and  as  time  went 
on,  and  the  power  of  Galerius  began  to  wane,  the  policy  of 
Constantius  in  the  West  insensibly  influenced  some  at  least 
of  that  group  of  Imperial  rulers  who  arose  in  the  troublous 
times  which  followed  the  abdication  of  Diocletian. 

But  it  was  only  in  the  favoured  West,  in  the  realm  of  Con- 
stantius, that  the  edicts  were  suffered  to  slumber.  In  the  Asiatic 
provinces  of  Diocletian  destruction  and  havoc  were  very 
general.  In  many  of  the  towns  the  churches  which  had  arisen 
in  the  long  period  of  quietness  were  razed  to  the  ground,  and 
the  communities  of  Christians  scattered  and  cruelly  harassed. 
In  the  realm  of  Maximian,  ever  a  bitter  foe,  the  edicts  of  per- 
secution were  rigorously  carried  out.  Rome  suffered  severely, 
and  much  of  the  "  earthing  up  "  of  the  catacombs  which  modern 
exploration  has  brought  to  light  dates  from  this  sad  period ; 
the  Bishop  of  Rome,  Marcellinus,  thus  preventing  any  dese- 
cration of  the  sacred  shrines  of  the  dead.  Vast  numbers  of  the 
Church's  archives  and  copies  of  the  sacred  books  were  seized 
and  destroyed  in  this  period. 

In  North  Africa,  which  was  included  in  Maximian's  terri- 
tories, the  persecution,  as  might  have  been  expected,  was 
severe.  In  this  province  religious  life  seems  to  have  been  all 
through  the  earlier  centuries  peculiarly  intense;  it  was  the 
home,  too,  of  the  schismatic  whose  cardinal  error  was  an 
exaggerated  austerity  of  life  and  conduct. 

A  special  feature  of  this  first  persecution  of  Diocletian 
was  the  bitterness  displayed  in  the  search  after  the  sacred 
Christian  books.  Wherever  the  edicts  were  rigorously  carried 
out,  not  only  were  the  churches  and  the  buildings  connected 
with  the  cemeteries  of  the  dead  pitilessly  destroyed,  but  the 
communities  were  required  to  give  up  the  sacred  vessels 
used  for  the  Holy  Eucharist,  and  also  the  manuscripts  which 
contained  the  writings  of  their  Teacher  and  His  disciples. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  vast  numbers  of  them  were  destroyed 
at  this  time  as  well  as  many  "Acts  of  Martyrs,"  and  other 
church  records,  an  irreparable  loss  being  thus  sustained. 
Many  earnest  and  devout  Christians  went  to  prison  and  some 


424  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

to  death  rather  than  give  up  these  sacred  writings ;  others, 
however,  yielded,  not  looking  upon  such  a  surrender  as  a 
vital  point.  In  North  Africa  a  few  years  later  the  question 
was  fiercely  raised  in  the  Christian  communities  whether 
those  presbyters  who  in  the  hour  of  extreme  peril  had  thus 
given  up  the  Holy  Books,  and  who  were  branded  with  the 
opprobrious  title  of  "  Traditores,"  had  not  by  their  weakness 
forfeited  their  sacerdotal  privileges.  The  charge  of  yielding 
up  the  sacred  books  was  the  immediate  occasion  of  the  great 
Donatist  schism.  The  ranks  of  these  schismatics  were  largely 
recruited,  as  might  have  been  expected,  in  North  Africa, 
from  the  inheritors  of  the  peculiarly  strict  and  austere  tenets 
of  the  Novatianists.      The  schism   made   so   wide   a   cleavasfe 

O 

in  the  Christian  communities  that  the  whole  question  was 
subsequently  debated  at  a  Council  composed  of  200  bishops 
summoned  from  all  parts  of  the  Western  Empire  to  Aries 
by  Constantino  in  the  year  314. 

The  search  after  and  confiscation  of  these  various  Christian 
writings  indicates  the  nature  of  the  persecution,  and  shows 
how  elaborately  planned  v/ere  the  proceedings  of  the  enemies 
of  the  Faith.  It  was  no  temporary  outbreak  of  Pagan  animosity, 
but  a  carefully  arranged  campaign  against  the  Christian 
religion,  which  Galerius  and  his  advisers  hoped  completely  to 
eradicate. 

In  Rome,  so  rich  in  indirect  testimonies  to  the  severity 
of  the  last  persecution,  an  absence  of  written  documents 
containing  reliable  details  is  specially  noticeable.  And  this 
is  accounted  for  by  the  sa,me  reasons  we  have  adduced  for  the 
provinces.  Indeed,  in  Rome,  the  great  seat  of  Paganism,  the 
search  for  and  consequent  destruction  of  the  sacred  writings 
and  manuscripts  of  the  Christians  seems  to  have  been  more 
thorough  and  complete  than  in  any  other  of  the  important 
centres   of  population. 

The  first  edict  was  rapidly  followed  by  a  second,  which 
was  especially  aimed  at  the  clergy.  Eusebius  (H.  E.,  viii.  6) 
tells  us  of  the  numbers  who  were  at  once  thrust  into 
prison — bishops,  presbyters,  and  deacons,  readers  and  exorcists. 
A   third  edict   was   soon   after  put    forth   offering   liberty    to 


DIOCLETIAN.  425 

any  of  these  who  would  consent  to  sacrifice,  but  in  the 
event  of  their  refusing  they  were  to  be  punished  with  ex- 
cruciating tortures.  The  historian  seems  to  imply,  in  the 
words  immediately  following  his  brief  notice  of  these  second 
and  third  edicts,  that  the  invitation  to  recant  was  generally 
refused,  as  he  adds  :  "  Who  could  tell  the  numbers  of  those 
martyrs  in  every  province,  and  particularly  in  Mauritania, 
Thebais,  and  Egypt,  that  suffered  death  for  their  religion  ?  " 
Still  Eusebius  does  not  conceal  the  fact  that  there  were 
some  who,  appalled  at  the  sufferings  which  awaited  those 
who  were  steadfast,  did  recant  in  the  supreme  hour  of  trial. 
His  words  must  be  quoted :  "  Hence  also  we  shall  not  make 
mention  of  those  who  were  shaken  by  the  persecution,  nor 
of  those  that  suffered  shipwreck  in  their  salvation,  and  of 
their  own  accord  were  sunk  in  the  depths  of  the  watery 
gulph."  Of  the  kind  of  tortures  that  were  endured,  he  writes : 
"  Here  was  one  that  was  scourged  with  rods,  there  another 
tormented  with  the  rack,  and  excruciating  scrapings,  in  which 
some  at  the  time  endured  the  most  terrible  death;  others, 
again  passed  through  different  torments  in  the  struggle." 
(//.  E.,  viii.  2-3.) 

The  closing  days  of  the  year  303  brought  a  brief  respite 
to  the  sufferings  of  the  persecuted  followers  of  Jesus.  It 
was  the  twentieth  year  of  the  reign  of  Diocletian,  and  the 
Emperor,  worn  out  and  ill  though  he  was,  determined  to 
celebrate  the  auspicious  date  with  a  grand  triumph,  accom- 
panied with  public  games  of  great  magnificence  at  Rome. 
Maximian,  his  senior  partner  in  the  Imperial  dignity,  was 
associated  with  him  on  the  great  occasion.  The  long  reign 
on  the  whole  had  been  a  period  of  real  prosperity  for  the 
colossal  Empire.  The  frontier  provinces  of  the  Danube  and 
the  Rhine  had  been  generally  protected  from  the  raids  of 
the  barbarian  tribes,  and  the  military  prowess  of  Maximian 
and  Constantius  Chlorus  had  continued  the  successful  work 
ot  the  mihtary  Emperors  Claudius  Probtis  and  Aurelian  in 
maintaining  the  fading  prestige  of  Rome  in  the  West,  while 
the  victories  of  Galerius  over  the  Persian  armies  secured  the 
Eastern  frontiers. 


426  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Africa  and  Britain,  as  well  as  the  great  frontiers  of  the  Rhine 
and  Danube,  were  each  represented  in  the  striking  triumph 
procession,  while  the  signal  victories  of  Galerius  in  Persia 
were  conspicuously  represented  in  the  stately  march  along  the 
sacred  way  and  through  the  time-honoured  Forum,  the  scene 
of  so  man}''  and  such  varied  Republican  and  Imperial 
triumphs. 

In  one  respect  the  great  military  display  of  Diocletian 
and  Maximian  in  the  November  of  a.d.  303  was  especially 
remarkable.  It  was  the  last  of  the  long  series  of  Roman 
triumphs.  Rome  had  already  virtually  ceased  to  be  the 
capital  of  the  Empire.  The  Imperial  visit,  however,  to  the 
old  capital  was  very  short.  Diocletian  disliked  Rome,  and 
his  failing  health  was  his  excuse  for  cutting  short  his  part 
in  the  festivities  of  the  triumph.  He  left  suddenly  for  Ravenna  ; 
then,  his  illness  becoming  grave,  he  lived  in  great  retirement ; 
slowly  journeying  in  a  closed  litter  back  to  his  loved  Nicomedia, 
which  he  only  reached  in  the  summer  of  the  following  year, 
A.D.  304.  Seriously  ill,  he  was  confined  to  his  palace  in  that 
city  for  many  months ;  many  supposed  him  to  be  dead,  as  in 
fact  he  virtually  was  to  all  public  business. 

The  ceremonies  connected  with  the  triumph  of  November, 
A.D.  303,  were  accompanied  by  a  proclamation  of  a  general 
amnesty,  and,  save  in  certain  special  cases,  all  prisoners  were 
released  throughout  the  Empire.  Great  numbers  of  more  or 
less  undistinguished  Christian  captives  who  were  awaiting 
trial  found  themselves  set  at  liberty  in  consequence  of  the 
general  pardon.  But  the  sounds  of  the  public  rejoicings  soon 
died  away,  and  the  cruel  edicts  of  persecution,  being  unrepealed, 
were  once  more  enforced  with  rigour  ;  in  the  East  where 
Galerius  was  now  in  reality  supreme,  and  in  the  West  through- 
out the  sphere  of  Maximian's  influence ;  both  these  Emperors 
being  deadly  enemies  of  Christianity. 

Nor  were  the  first  three  edicts  far  reachinsf  enough  to 
satisfy  the  bitter  animosity  of  these  princes,  for  in  the  spring 
of  the  following  j^ear,  304,  a  fourth  and  more  terrible  edict 
was  promulgated,  no  doubt  under  the  special  inspiration  of 
Galerius.      Eusebius,   dwelling    especially   on    the    Palestinian 


DIOCLETIAN.  427 

persecution,  of  whicli  he  was  an  eye-witness,  thus  briefly  sums 
up  the  purport  of  this  fresh  order  of  the  Imperial  Chancery : 
"In  the  course  of  the  second  year  (a.d.  304),  when  the  war 
was  blazing  more  violently  against  us,  when  Urbanus  was 
administering  the  province,  Imperial  letters  were  sent  in  which 
it  was  directed  that  all  persons  of  every  people  and  city  should 
sacrifice  and  offer  libations  to  idols."  (De  Mart.  Pal.,  3.) 
Thus  open  war  was  proclaimed  not  merely  against  the  Churches, 
the  holy  vessels,  the  sacred  books  and  writings,  and  the 
clergy  of  all  ranks,  but  against  all  the  believers  in  Jesus, 
^vithout  distinction  of  condition,  or  sex,  or  age. 

In  one  of  those  rare  Martyrologies  which  have  come  down 
to  us,  that  of  S.  Savinus — which  bears,  however,  unmistakable 
traces  of  a  late  redaction — we  have  an  evidently  genuine"'^ 
description  of  the  bitter  spirit  of  animosity  against  Christianity 
which  animated  the  Pagan  population  of  Rome  in  the  great 
year  of  Diocletian's  persecution,  a.d.  304. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year,  in  the  course  of  the  annual 
games  in  honour  of  Ceres,  the  Emperor  Maximian  Herculius 
was  present.  Loud  shouts  applauding  the  Sovereign  were  inter- 
rupted by  cries  of  the  populace  clamouring  for  the  destruction 
of  the  Christians.  The  air  was  full  of  the  persecuting  fury  of 
Galerius  and  Diocletian,  which  was  raging  in  the  East.  The 
Roman  Pagans  longed  to  see  the  bloody  scenes  of  Nicomedia 
and  the  oriental  centres  revived  in  their  own  city.  "  Away 
with  the  Christians,"  shouted  the  populace,  "and  we  shall  be 
happy."  "  Let  there  be  no  more  Christians,"  was  repeated  by 
the  angry  crowd  again  and  again.  Maximian,  whose  hostility 
to  the  sect  was  well  known,  was  not  slow  to  comply  with  the 
popular  desire,  and  soon  the  persecuting  edicts  of  which  we 
have  written  above  were  carried  into  dread  effect  at  Rome. 

Many  and  various  were  the  devices  adopted  in  the  course 
of  the  terrible  year  304  to  compel  the  Christians  to  pay  even 
an  involuntary  homage  to  the  gods  of  Rome.  At  Nicomedia, 
the  residence  of  the  Emperor,  altars   were   placed   in   all   the 

*  De  Rossi,  Bullettino  di  Arch.  Crist.,  1883,  p.  156,  insists  upon  the  evident 
genuineness  of  the  preamble  to  the  Fassio  S.  Savlni.  See,  too,  Allard,  Perse- 
cution de  Di  octet  ien,  vol.  i.  vi.  1. 


428  EARLY    CEBISTIANITY    AND    FAOANISM. 

law  courts,  and  the  suitors  with  various  cases  were  bidden 
before  their  cases  came  on  to  offer  sacrifice.  In  Galatia,  all 
articles  of  food,  before  being  allowed  to  be  exposed  for  sale, 
were  formally  consecrated  to  one  or  other  of  the  gods.  In 
Rome  these  strange  and  hitherto  unheard  of  methods  of 
compelling  submission  to  idolatry  were  multiphed.  Images 
of  the  gods  were  erected  in  the  various  markets,  and  incense 
had  to  be  sprinkled  before  these  by  all  who  wished  to  buy 
and  sell.  The  very  public  fountains,  then  as  now  so  abundant 
in  Rome,  were  guarded,  and  could  only  be  used  by  those  who 
chose  to  adore  the  national  gods. 

The  condition  of  the  Christian  portion  of  the  Roman 
world,  with  the  exception  of  Gaul  for  the  reasons  above 
referred  to,  after  the  putting  out  of  this  fourth  edict  of 
persecution,  was  undoubtedly  more  serious  than  it  had  been 
at  any  previous  time.  The  greater  part  of  the  year  304  and 
a  considerable  portion  of  305  may  be  considered  the  most 
terrible  period  of  the  long  drawn-out  persecution  which  began 
in  the  year  303,  and  did  not  end  till  Constantino  promulgated 
at  Milan  his  famous  edict  in  the  year  313.  It  was  the  most 
deliberate  and  carefully  planned  attack  on  the  Religion  of 
Jesus  that  the  advocates  of  Paganism  ever  arranged,  and  the 
Emperor  Galerius,  the  chief  instigator  of  the  persecution,  and 
his  advisers  had  good  hopes  that  the  universal  terrorism 
would,  in  the  end,  everywhere  stamp  out  the  hated  Chris- 
tianity. The  name  of  Diocletian  appeared  still  as  the  first 
of  the  Imperial  names  on  the  fourth  edict,  but  it  is  doubtful 
if  the  state  of  his  health  all  through  that  year  permitted  him 
to  take  any  active  share  in  the  Government.  The  real  author 
of  the  persecution  undoubtedly  was  Galerius,  while  Maximian 
in  Italy  and  Africa,  then,  as  ever,  a  determined  foe  to  the 
sect,  willingly  carried  out  the  provisions  of  the  various  edicts. 
The  passive  resistance  of  Constantius  Chlorus,  who  administered 
the  Gallic  Provinces,  and  who  sympathised  with  Christianity, 
was,  however,  the  great  obstacle  to  the  effectual  carrying  out 
of  the  Pagan  propaganda. 

The   numbers  of  the   Christians  in  the  Roman  Empire  in 
the  first  years  of  the  fourth  century,  against  whom   the  gi-eat 


DIOCLETIAN.  429 

persecution  was  directed,  have  been  variously  stated;  we  have 
computed  them,  it  will  be  remembered,  as  amounting  roughly 
to  between  seven  and  nine  millions.  But  this  may  possibly 
be  very  considerabl}^  under  the  mark,  the  whole  population 
of  the  Empire  at  this  period  being  reckoned  at  about  one 
hundred  millions. 

SECTION   III. — REVIEW  OF  THE  PERSECUTION. 

As  the  abdication  of  Diocletian  and  Maximian  in  the  May 
of  the  year  305  marks  a  new  departure  in  the  last  great 
persecution,  it  will  be  well  to  take  a  general  view  of  this 
supreme  effort  of  Paganism  against  Christianity. 

It  is  true  that  the  great  persecution  lasted  roughly  ten 
5'^ears.  But  after  the  first  two  years,  of  which  we  have  spoken 
in  some  detail,  although  it  continued  to  rage,  it  was  greatly 
limited  in  the  area  of  its  operations.  Between  the  spring 
of  A.D.  303,  when  the  first  edict  was  promulgated  at  Nicomedia, 
and  the  late  spring  of  a.d.  305,  when  Diocletian  and  Maximian 
abdicated,  the  persecution  was  general  throughout  the  whole 
Empire.  Even  in  the  great  province  of  Gaul,  where  Constantius 
Chlorus  ruled,  and  in  which  the  Christians  enjoyed,  on  the 
whole,  stillness,  the  persecuting  edicts  were  nominally  carried 
out ;  while  throughout  the  dominions  of  Diocletian,  Maximian, 
and  Galerius  a  bitter  and  harassing:  war  was  washed  ao-ainst 
the  followers  of  the  Crucified.  These  dominions  included 
roughly  all  the  provinces  of  the  East ;  the  sphere  of  persecu- 
tion comprehended  Italy,  Greece,  Egypt,  Spain,  and  North 
Africa  in  the  Western  division  of  the  Empire. 

After  the  abdication  of  the  two  senior  Emperors  in  a.d. 
305,  in  the  West  the  power  of  Constantius  Chlorus  was  greatly 
augmented.  Spain  was  probably  added  to  his  sphere  of 
control,  and  Severus,  the  new  Caesar,  who  ruled  in  Italy 
and  North  Africa,  contrary  to  the  expectation  of  his  friend 
and  patron  Galerius,  ordered  his  policy  towards  the  Christian 
portion  of  the  population  rather  after  the  wishes  of  Con- 
stantius, his  immediate  superior  in  the  Western  Empire,  than 
in    accordance    with    those    of    Galerius.     In    his    dominions. 


430  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

although  the  edicts  remained  unrepealed  and  the  churches 
and  cemeteries  were  not  restored  to  the  Christians,  no  open 
persecution  harassed  the  communities.  Thus  in  the  matter 
of  toleration  and  persecution  the  Empire  was  divided. 
Eusebius  clearly  indicates  this  cleavage  in  the  following 
language.  He  tells  us  of  "  an  innumerable  multitude  of 
martyrs,  noble  wrestlers"  in  the  cause  of  piety  who  suffered 
in  the  Eastern  Provinces,  while  in  the  other  countries,  includ- 
ing all  Italy,  Sicily,  and  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Mauritania  and 
Africa,  the  hostility  of  the  persecution  hardly  lasted  two 
years ;  they  were  blessed  by  the  interposition  and  peace  of 
God.  .  ,  .  Thus  in  the  one  part  of  the  Empire  peace 
was  being  enjoyed,  whilst  those  brethren  who  inhabited  the 
other  endured  innumerable  trials  (De  Mart.  Pal,  xiii.). 

Of  this  second  phase  of  persecution  in  the  East,  which 
lasted  some  eight  years  longer,  we  shall  speak  again ;  of 
the  general  persecution,  usually  known  as  Diocletian's,  which 
went  on  for  about  two  years,  we  have  already  given  some  details. 

Lactantius,  in  an  interesting  and  instructive  passage  which 
deserves  to  be  quoted  at  length,  sets  forth  the  spirit  in  which 
the  hostile  edicts  were  carried  into  effect  by  the  different 
provincial  governors  and  magistrates  during  these  two  years 
of  general  persecution.  "It  is  impossible  to  represent  in 
detail  everything  that  took  place  in  all  the  various  districts 
of  the  Roman  world.  Each  provincial  governor,  according 
to  his  discretion,  used  the  special  powers  (against  the  Christians) 
with  which  he  was  armed.  The  timid  ones,  fearful  lest 
they  should  be  reproached  with  not  carrying  out  their 
orders,  went  farthest  in  the  work ;  others  followed  them 
and  their  severe  interpretations  of  the  directions  for  various 
reasons  ;  they  were  cruel  by  nature,  or  they  were  actuated  by 
a  special  hatred  for  the '  just  ones '  (the  Christians),  or  they 
wished  to  curry  favour  with  the  Sovereign,  and  by  this 
means  to  secure  their  own  promotion.  In  some  cases  they 
inflicted  the  penalty  of  death  in  a  wholesale  fashion."  Here 
the  writer  quotes  the  example  of  a  Phrygian  city  where  a 
terrible  massacre  of  Christians  of  all  ages  and  sexes  was 
ordered  (Eusebius,  too,  quotes  this  horrible  act,  H.  E.,  viii.  xi.). 


DIOCLETIAN.  431 

"  But  the  most  dreaded  of  the  governors  were  those  who 
made  false  professions  of  kindness.  The  most  dangerous  and 
terrible  executioner  was  he  who  boasted  that  he  never  shed 
blood  in  the  province  over  which  he  ruled.  These  men  could 
not  endure  the  thought  of  the  martyrs'  victory.  It  is  im- 
possible to  describe  the  tortures  which  these  magistrates 
devised  in  order  to  compass  their  purpose.  They  felt  it  was 
a  combat  to  the  death  between  them  and  the  Christians.  I 
have  seen  myself  in  Bithynia,  the  joy  of  one  of  their  governors, 
when  a  Christian,  who  had  held  out  for  two  years  with  true 
courage,  in  the  end  gave  in.  He  was  as  proud  of  the  achieve- 
ment as  though  he  had  subjugated  a  barbarian  people.  To 
gain  this  end,  every  nerve  was  strained ;  they  felt  their  honour 
was  at  stake.  So  they  inflicted  on  the  bodies  of  the  victims 
the  most  cruel  tortures,  taking  all  care  that  their  sufferings 
stopped  short  of  death.  Do  they  imagine  that  our  bliss  is 
only  won  by  death  ?  Will  not  these  torments  win  for  us  the 
glory  due  to  a  noble  resistance,  a  glory,  too,  which  will  be 
more  conspicuous  in  proportion  to  the  greatness  of  the 
sufferings  endured  ?  But  the  persecutors  are  blind.  The 
ofreatest  care  is  taken  of  the  tortured  ones  in  order  that  the 
suiferings  may  be  renewed.  The  shattered  limbs  are  care- 
fully tended  with  a  view  of  subjecting  the  sufferers  to 
fresh  agonies.  Was  ever  anything  conceived  more  gentle, 
more  humane  ?  This  is  the  strange  humanity  which  idol- 
worship  breathes  into  its  votaries!  "     {Div.  Inst,  v.,  ll."^) 

It  is  impossible  to  compute  the  number  of  those  who 
perished  in  the  two  years  of  general  persecution  which,  save 
in  Gaul  and  the  provinces  under  the  rule  of  Constantius, 
raged  over  the  whole  Empire,  and  in  the  following  seven  or 
eight  years  of  persecution  in  the  Eastern  Provinces.  The 
computation  of  Gibbon  is  unreliable.  He  suggests  that  the 
total  number  of  those  who  perished  during  the  whole  period 
of  ten  years  did  not  exceed  two  thousand ;  and  he  bases  his 
calculations  largely  upon  the  ninety-two  martyrs  of  Palestine 
mentioned  particularly  by  Eusebius  ;  but  that  historian  does  not 

*  Tiilemont's  rendering  [Mcmoires,  v.  20),  occasionally  slightly  paraphrased, 
has  been  generally  followed. 


4-32  EARLY    GHRIBTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

profess  to  give  more  than  a  list  of  those  cases  which  were 
personally  known  to  himself,  or  were  specially  interesting.  "  The 
roll  of  the  Palestine  martyrs  is,  therefore,  on  every  reasonable 
supposition  only  a  select  list,  and  bears  probably  the  same  relation 
to  the  whole  number  that  suffered,  as  the  names  of  officers  in 
a  gazette  to  the  undistinguished  victims  of  the  rank  and  file. 
The  persecution  was  undoubtedly  a  mighty  effort  to  crush 
Christianity.  More  than  once  the  tyrants  boasted  that  they 
had  succeeded  in  the  attempt.*  That  in  such  an  endeavour 
continued  for  ten  j^ears  they  accomplished  nothing  more 
than  the  death  of  some  two  thousand  persons  is  as  contrary 
to  reason  as  to  the  testimony  of  all  early  writers."! 

Besides,  in  his  computation,  evidently  made  with  a  desire 
to  minimise  as  much  as  possible  the  numbers  of  sufferers  in 
this  dong  continued  persecution,  the  historian  of  the  Decline 
and  Fall  disdains  to  take  any  account  whatever  of  the 
crowds  in  different  countries  who  were  tortured,  as  the  con- 
temporary writer  Lactantius  so  graphically  in  the  above  quoted 
passage  tells  us,  but  were  not  put  to  death.  He  omits  men- 
tioning the  numberless  victims  condemned  to  a  lingering  death 
in  prison  or  in  the  mines,  he  makes  no  allusion  whatever  to 
the  unspeakable  misery  and  wretchedness  endured  by  un- 
counted numbers  of  the  members  of  the  Christian  communi- 
ties during  those  long  years  of  the  terror.! 

There  is  no  question,  when  all  possible  deduction  is  made 
for  the  number — no  inconsiderable  one — of  the  "  Traditores  " 
who  gave  up  the  sacred  books  hoping  thus  to  save  their  lives, 
and   of  those   who   fell  away  under  threats  of  torture,   shame, 

*  Trophies  were  set  up  at  Clunia  in  Spain,  and  elsewhere.  One  of  these 
runs  thus  :  "  Diocletianus  Jovius,  Maximianus  Herculius  ,  .  .  nomine 
Christianorum  delete";  and  another — "  Superstitione  Chi-isti  ubique  deleta, 
ciiltu  deorum  propagate."  Quoted  by  Dr.  Mahan,  And  see  Baronius,  Annal. 
A.D.  304. 

+  Dr.  Mahan,  Professor  of  Ecc.  Hist,  in  the  General  Theological  Seminary 
of  New  York :  A  Church  Mistor)j  of  the  First  Seven  Centuries,  chap.  ix.  New 
York,  1892. 

X  Dean  Milman  in  his  notes  on  the  Decline  and  Fall,  chap,  xvi.,  specially 
adverts  to  the  deliberate  unfairness  of  Gibbon,  in  his  summarj'-  of  the  last 
great  persecution,  "  quietly  dismissing  from  the  account  all  the  horrible  and 
excruciating  tortures  which  fell  short  of  death." 


DIOCLETIAN.  433 

and  confiscation  of  their  gfoods,  that  on  the  whole  the  sfreat 
mass  of  the  Christians  endured  all  rather  than  deny  the  name 
of  Jesus,  and  that  their  noble  constancy  and  brave  patience 
to  the  end  literally  wearied  out  their  persecutors,  who  gradually 
became  sensible  of  the  hopelessness  of  the  task  they  had  set 
themselves  of  exterminating  such  a  sect,  so  numerous  and 
so  determined. 

SECTION   IV. — AUTHORITIES. 

As  regards  the  materials  in  our  possession  for  any  detailed 
account  of  the  last  persecution,  our  contemporary  and  most 
valuable  pieces  are :  (1)  The  writings  of  Eusebius  the  his- 
torian, the  Bishop  of  Ctesarea ;  (2)  the  writings  of  Lactantius, 
afterwards  tutor  to  Constantine's  son,  Crispus ;  (3)  a  certain 
number  of  "  Acts  and  Passion  of  Martyrs  "  ;  (4)  the  testimony 
of  part  of  the  Catacombs. 

1.  The  "writings  of  Eusebius.  A  very  considerable  portion 
of  these  have  come  down  to  us,  and  in  the  eighth  and 
ninth  books  of  his  "Ecclesiastical  History,"  and  in  the 
short  monograph  on  the  "  Martyrs  of  Palestine,"  we  have  a 
detailed  account  of  many  of  the  sufferings  endured  at  this 
time  by  the  Christians ;  an  account  compiled  by  a  trained 
scholar  and  historian,  not  merely  a  contemporary,  but  an 
eye-witness  of  many  of  the  terrible  scenes^  he  depicts. 

But  Eusebius'  narrative  only  embraces  what  took  place 
in  one  portion  of  the  Roman  Empire  ;  he  confines  his  story 
to  a  relation  of  the  operation  of  the  edicts  in  the  East, 
dwelling  especially  on  Palestine.  On  what  happened  in  the 
Western  Provinces  of  Rome  he  is  almost  wholly  silent.  The 
reason  of  this  silence  has  been  happily  suggested  by  an 
eminent  modern  scholar.  "  The  Bishop  of  Ciiesarea  (Eusebius), 
conscious   of  the  grandeur   of  this   supreme   contest   between 

*  We  have  in  the  text  of  our  history  dwelt  very  little  upon  the  nature  of  the 
sufferings  endured.  There  is,  of  course,  an  awful  repetition  in  those  harrowing 
scenes.  But  in  Appendix  G  we  have  given  a  few  extracts  verLatim  from  the 
contemporary  historians  Lactantius  and  Eusehius.  The  latter  especiallj'  refers 
to  himself  as  an  eye-witness  of  some  of  these  painful  scenes.  The  extracts  in 
question  will  give  some  idea  of  the  sufferings  to  which  the  Christians  were  exposed 
in  the  last  and  greatest  of  the  persecutions. 
C  C 


434  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

Christianity  and  Paganism,  a  contest  in  whicli  he  was  playing 
a  not  undistinguished  part,  would  only  speak  of  what  he 
himself  had  witnessed,  or  of  what  he  had  absolutely  heard 
from  eye-witnesses,  and  he  feared  to  weaken  the  strength  of 
his  testimony  by  dwelling  on  what  had  taken  place  in  distant 
lands  far  from  the  scenes  of  his  own  personal  observation. 
Thus  his  story  of  the  Diocletian'  persecution,  comparatively 
limited  as  it  is  in  its  area  of  observation,  differs  in  its  plan 
from  the  earlier  portions  of  his  ecclesiastical  history,  which 
more  or  less  embraces  the  whole  scene  of  the  Christian 
struggle  with  Paganism.  By  forsaking  for  this  memorable 
period  the  universal  character  of  its  earlier  books  the  his- 
torian gives  place  to  the  eye-witness,"^ 

A  more  competent  chronicler  of  those  scenes  of  the 
great  persecution  which  he  describes  so  graphically  and  so 
touchingly  can  scarcely  be  conceived.  An  unwearied  scholar 
and  trained  writer,  Eusebius  saw  his  co-religionists  hunted 
down  and  tortured ;  of  these  many  were  his  own  dearest 
friends  and  fellow-students.  He  was  present,  for  instance, 
in  thea  mphitheatre  of  Tyre  when  his  friends  and  fellow- 
Christians  were  exposed  to  the  fury  of  the  wild  beasts.  He 
visited  and  encouraged  the  confessors  in  the  unhealthy 
mines  of  Phsenos.  He  shared  the  prison  life  of  his  dear 
master  Pamphilus  at  Cassarea — Pamphilus  the  eminent  scholar 
and  famous  expositor  of  the  Scriptures,  the  defender  of  the 
great  Origen.  He  was  in  Egypt  when  the  persecution  was 
at  its  height,  and  when  the  proscribed  Christians  endured 
unspeakable  tortures  and  sufferings. 

2.  The  writings  of  Lactantius.f  Here,  too,  we  have  the 
testimony  of  a  contemporary  and  of  a  learned  scholar ; 
Eusebius  even  characterises  him  as  the  most  erudite  man 
of  his  time.  He  had  exceptional  opportunities  of  observa- 
tion and  of  obtaining  accurate  information  respecting  the 
public  events  which  happened  in  the  early  years  of  the 
fourth  century.  He  was  in^^ted  by  Diocletian  to  take  up 
his  residence    in    Nicomedia    about    a.d.    301,    and    later    he 

*  Allard  :  Persecution  de  Biocletien,  Vol.  I.     Introduction,  Section  3. 
A  short  account  of  Lactantius  is  given  in  Appendix  E. 


DIOCLETIAN.  435 

entered  into  the  household  of  Constantine  the  Great  as  in- 
structor of  his  son  Crispus.  In  his  treatise  on  "  The  Deaths  ot 
Persecutors,"*  the  greater  part  of  which  treats  of  the  events 
of  the  Diocletian  persecution,  we  possess  a  vast  number  of 
details  of  the  sufferings  endured  by  the  Christian  subjects 
of  the  Empire.  Scattered  but  important  notices,  too,  ot 
these  sufferings  are  found  in  his  "Divinai  Institutiones," 
from  which  work  we  have  quoted  the  remarkable  passage 
given  above  (pp.  431-2). 

3.  A  certain  number  of  "  Acts  and  Passions  of  Martyrs "  of 
the  period,  which  have  been  pronounced  genuine  in  their  main 
features,  although  in  many  cases  they  have  been  evidently 
iimplitied  or  supplemented  by  revisers  a  century  or  two  later 
than  their  assumed  date,  can  fairly  be  referred  to.  Considering 
the  terrible  nature  of  this  last  persecution,  its  operations  not 
being  confined  to  the  clergy  or  to  special  persons,  or  to  any  class 
and  order,  but  extending  to  the  whole  Christian  community,  it 
is  at  first  sight  somewhat  surprising  that  many  more  of  these 
"  Acts  and  Passions  "  relating  to  so  widely  extended  an  onslaught 
have  not  come  down  to  us.  But  the  paucity  of  such  "  Acts  and 
Passions "  is  fairly  explained  when  the  circumstances  of  the 
persecution  are  taken  into  consideration.  Among  the  articles 
of  the  edicts,  it  will  be  remembered,  were  most  stringent 
provisions  for  the  seizure  and  destruction  of  the  sacred 
writings  of  the  Christians,  including  many  MSS.  besides 
the  Holy  Scriptures;  and  amongst  others  no  doubt  the 
memoranda  which  bore  upon  the  heroic  constancy  and 
endurance  of  the  Christian  victims;  such  histories  and 
recitals  the  leading  spirits  in  the  State  who  guided  this 
systematic  and  carefully-planned  onslaught  of  Paganism  would 
justly  view  with  peculiar  abhorrence  and  dread,  as  eminently 
calculated  to  inspire  the  sufferers  with  a  noble  desire  to  emulate 
the  bravery  and  constancy  of  those  who  had  already  in  pain  and 
agony  won  their  martyr  crowns.  These  "  Acts  and  Passions," 
wherever  they  existed,  would  doubtless  be  most  carefully 
sought  for  and  destroyed,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  sweeping 

*  See  Appendix  E.  The  question  of  the  authorship  of  this  treatise  is  there 
■discussed. 


436  EABLY   GHBISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

nature  of  the  arrests  of  the  clergy  as  Christian  leaders  would 
largely  tend  to  diminish  the  numbers  of  such  "  official  memor- 
anda " ;  the  very  persons  whose  duty  it  was  to  compile  or  redact 
these  records  having  been  mostly  deprived  of  their  liberty,  and 
either  thrown  into  prison  or  driven  to  some  distant  place  of 
exile.  Prudentius,  the  Spanish  poet,  who  was  born  only  some 
forty  years  later,  dwells  on  this  in  graphic  and  pathetic  words, 
Avhen  he  deplores  how  the  stern  spirit  of  the  persecutor  has 
silenced'^  those  memories  of  a  glorious  past. 

The  public  archives,  the  Ada  py^o-consularia,  and  the 
Acta  onunicipalia,  from  which  we  might  have  expected  much 
detailed  information  respecting  the  events  which  accompanied 
this  general  Imperial  persecution,  have  for  the  most  part  dis- 
appeared in  the  course  of  the  overwhelming  disasters  which 
overtook  the  Empire  in  the  fifth  and  following  centuries.! 

Among  the  "  Acts  and  Passions  "  connected  with  the  Diocle- 
tian persecution,  Allard  {Persecution  cle  DiocUtien,  Tom.  I., 
i.,  ii.,  iii.)  quotes  at  considerable  length  pieces  treating  of  martyr 
suffering  in  Macedonia,  Pannonia,  Cilicia,  Thrace,  Galatia,  and 
Cappadocia,  the  ample  notices  of  Eusebius  being  confined  to 
events  which  took  place  in  Syria,  Phoenicia,  Egypt,  Pontus,  and 
especially  in  Palestine. 

Comparatively  few  Koman  "  Acts  of  Martyrs  "  belonging  to 
this  time  have  come  down  to  us.  Among  these  rare  "Acts," 
mostly  genuine  in  the  main  features  of  the  stor}',  but 
mutilated  and  added  to  by  later  revisers,  we  would  instance 
the  "Acts"  of  the  famous  S.  Agnes  and  of  her  foster-sister 
S.  Emerentiana,  tho  main  features  of  which  narratives  late 
archaeological  discoveries  have  largely  substantiated. 

4.  As  regards  Rome,  we  possess  in  the  Catacombs  the  most 
enduring  memory  of  this  last  and  most  terrible  of  the  per- 
secutions. The  cemeteries  were  generally  confiscated,  and  the 
Christians  forbidden  to  use  them  or  even  to  enter  them.     To 

*  "  0  vctustatis  silentis  obsoleta  oblivio  I 

Invidentiir  ista  nobis,  fama  et  ips-a  extirii^uitur." 

Prudentius:  Peri-Stephan6n,'\.  73. 
f  Compare   Boissier,  who   has   some   good   remarks  on  this  point,  La  fm   dn 
Pagaiiisme,  vol.  i.     Appendix  on  "  Les  I'ersecutions." 


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INSCRIPTIONS     FOUND     IN     THE     CATACOMBS. 

Rfclnce<l  facsiiiille  I'nini  Perrefs  "  CataCdinln's,"  Vol.   V.,  Plate  15. 


DIOCLETIAN.  437 

preserve  intact  the  hallowed  graves  of  their  fathers,  and 
especially  the  resting-places  of  the  more  venerated  among 
their  dead,  the  Roman  Christian  communities  blocked  or 
earthed-up  many  of  the  galleries  where  these  dead  had  been 
tenderly  and  reverently  deposited.  After  the  peace  of  the 
Church,  one  of  the  Bishops  of  Rome,  Pope  Damasus,  who 
presided  over  the  Church  of  the  great  city  from  a.d.  366  to 
A.D.  384 — a  name  held  deservedly  in  the  highest  honour 
among  the  many  illustrious  men  who  tilled  that  high  office — 
devoted  himself  especially  to  re-discover  many  of  these  tombs, 
earthed-up  in  various  persecutions.  One  most  important  work 
undertaken  by  Damasus  was  the  composition  of  numberless 
inscriptions  in  honour  of  the  martyrs  whose  hidden  tombs  he 
uncovered,  which  inscriptions  he  caused  to  be  engraved  on 
slabs  of  marble  and  stone  in  peculiarly  beautiful  and  legible 
characters.^  Some  of  the  inscribed  tablets  refer  to  martyrs 
and  famous  men  of  an  earlier  period,  to  heroes  of  the  older 
persecutions ;  but  not  a  few  refer  to  the  victims  of  the  last 
period  of  which  we  are  now  speaking.  The  historic  value  is, 
of  course,  very  great ;  for  he  wrote,  in  the  case  of  the  victims 
of  the  Diocletian  persecution,  of  sufferers  whose  story  was  told 
him  by  men  who  were  their  contemporaries ;  indeed,  on  one 
tablet  we  read  how,  as  a  boy,  he  learned  the  martyrs'  history 
from  the  lips  of  the  executioner  himself!  "Percussor  retulit 
mihi  Damaso  cum  puer  essem."  His  are  no  legendary  or 
apocryphal  narrations ;  they  are  simply  the  bare  recapitulation 
of  facts  of  public  notoriety.     Damasus  was  born  a.d.  305. 

Some  of  these  inscriptions  are  preserved  in  the  ancient 
Roman  churches,  whither  they  were  removed  in  the  seventh, 
eighth,  and  ninth  centuries,  when  the  catacombs  were  in 
process  of  being  rifled  by  foreign  invaders.  i\Iany  of  them 
have  been  discovered,  often  broken  and  mutilated,  in  the 
original  crypts  -where  Damasus   himself  placed  them,   and   as 

*  De  Rossi  believes  that  all  the  beautiful  Damasine  inscriptions  that  have 
been  recovered  were  the  work  of  ono  artist— Furius  Dionysius  Filocalus.  On 
one  of  these  inscribed  tablets,  that  belonging  to  Pope  Eusebius,  the  artist  describes 
himself  thus:  *•  FURIUS  DI0XYSIU8  FILOCAI.US  SCRIPSIT  DAfilASIS 
[sic)  PAPP.E    CULTOR  AT  QUE   AMATOR." 


438  EARLY   CHBISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

the  excavations  slowly  proceed  more  are  being  found.  The 
Spanish  poet  Prudentius,  who  was  a  contemporary  of  Pope 
Damasus,  specially  dwelt  on  the  number  and  reputation  of 
these  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  which  were  among  the  glories 
of  the  Rome  of  his  day,  when  in  one  of  his  famous  martyr 
hymns  or  poems  he  wrote  that  men  little  guessed  how  full 
Rome  was  of  buried  saints,  how  rich  was  her  soil  with  holy 
graves.* 

*  "  Vix  fama  nota  est,  abditis 
Quam  plena  Sanctis  1-ioma  sit, 
Quam  dives  urbanum  solum 
iSacris  sepulcliiis  floreat." 

Feri-Sfej>ha)W)i,  ii.   54]-5-J4. 


439 


CHAPTER    XV. 

CONSTAXTIXE   THE   GREAT. 
SECTIOX   I. — THE   RISE   OF   COXSTAXTIXE. 

The  story  ^  of  the  close  of  the  brilliant  reign  of  the  great 
Emperor  Diocletian  is  a  pathetic  one.  All  through  the  closing 
months  of  the  year  804  he  lay  sick  almost  unto  death  in  his 
palace  at  Nicomedia.  In  the  spring  a.d.  305,  he  had  partly 
recovered,  but  when  he  appeared  again  in  public  he  was 
changed  almost  beyond  recognition.  His  younger  colleague, 
Galerius,  came  to  Nicomedia  ostensibly  to  congratulate  him 
on  his  recovery ;  but  the  real  object  of  his  visit  was  to  insist 
upon  Diocletian  at  once  carrying  out  his  long-meditated  project 
of  abdication. 

With  some  reluctance  the  ailing  Emperor  seems  to  have 
consented  to  retire ;  a  step  he  had  evidently  long  been  medi- 
tating, but  such  resolves  are  easier  to  meditate  upon  than 
to  carry  out.  When,  hoAvever,  the  nomination  of  the  new 
Ciesars,  who  were  to  take  the  place  of  the  abdicating  Emperors, 
was  discussed,  Diocletian  remonstrated  vehemently  against 
the  objects  of  Galerius'  choice.  These  were  Daia,  his  nephew, 
a  young  man  without  culture  and  half  a  barbarian,  and  Severus, 
whom   the  Emperor  characterised  as  a  drunkard,  and  utterly 

*  There  seems  no  valid  reason  for  doubting  the  general  accuracy  of  the 
details  given  in  the  famous  writing  Be  Mortihus  Perseeutornm.  The  question 
whether  or  no  Lactantius  was  the  author  of  "the  piece  "  in  question  is  discussed 
in  Appendix  E.  But  i)xe  authorship  of  this  contemporary  writing  does  not  affect 
the  probahility  of  the  general  truth  of  the  details.  That  Maximin  Daia  and 
Severus,  the  two  new  Cwsars,  were  imposed  upon  the  weak  and  suffering 
Emperor  by  the  imperious  Galerius  is  CAadent ;  Diocletian  u-o'Ad  never  have  ehosen 
them  of  himself,  nor  is  it  by  any  means  certain  that  he  would  then  have  abdi- 
cated had  not  pressure,  which  he  could  not  resist,  been  brought  to  bear  upon  him. 


440  EARLY   GEBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

unworthy  of  the  great  dignity.  Galerius,  however,  who  evi- 
dently looked  upon  them  as  his  creatures,  upon  whom  he 
could  depend  to  carry  out  his  will,  insisted  upon  their  appoint- 
ment. Using  Diocletian's  name,  he  had  already  secured  the 
reluctant  acquiescence  of  Maximian.  The  strange  transaction 
was  carried  out.  The  sick  and  weary  Emperor  left  the  scene 
with  apparent  willingness ;  and  Galerius  and  his  creatures 
Daia  (henceforth  known  as  Maximin  Daia)  and  Severus, 
assumed  the  government  of  Italy,  Africa,  and  the  East, 
Diocletian  retiring  to  his  sumptuous  villa  at  Salona  on  the 
Dalmatian  coast,  and  Maximian  Herculius  to  a  luxurious 
home  in  Lucania.  All  seemed  to  promise  well  for  Galerius' 
project  of  becoming  Master  of  the  Roman  world. 

Only  one  obstacle  remained.  Over  the  vast  Western  provinces 
of  Gaul  and  Britain  still  presided  the  quiet,  unassuming,  and  appar- 
ently unambitious  Constantius  Chlorus,  the  friend  of  the  Chris- 
tians. Constantius,  too,  was  in  failing  health,  and  Galerius  looked 
forward  to  obtaining  at  no  distant  period,  without  a  struggle,  the 
important  and  far-reaching  provinces  over  which  he  ruled.  It 
was  verily  a  dark  outlook  for  the  Christian  cause.  But  events 
turned  out  strangely.  The  quiet  influence  of  Constantius  was  far 
greater  in  the  West  than  Galerius  conceived ;  and  Severus,  Avhen 
he  assumed  the  reins  of  government  in  Italy — acting  under  the 
directions  of  Constantius,  who,  when  Maximian,  the  old  Emperor, 
retired,  was  really  supreme  in  the  West — at  once,  contrary  to  the 
wishes  of  Galerius,  gave  up  persecuting  the  Christians  in  Italy 
and  North  Africa.  A  period  of  quietness  for  the  long  harassed 
sect  commenced  throughout  the  West  of  the  Empire. 

At  the  Court  of  Galerius  in  Nicomedia  resided  a  compara- 
tively young  and  unknown  man  of  high  lineage,  the  eldest  son  of 
Constantius  Chlorus,  afterwards  known  as  Constantino  the  Great. 
He  seems  to  have  been  with  Diocletian  for  some  time,  treated  by 
him  with  distinction,  and  placed  in  his  own  army  as  the  best 
training  school.  Probably  Diocletian  looked  upon  him  as  the 
eventual  successor  of  his  father,  Constantius  Chlorus. 

He  was  a  young  officer  of  the  highest  promise,  and  rapidly 
obtained  promotion.  Galerius  evidently  feared  him,  and  when 
the  appointment  of  the  new  Caesars,  Severus  and  Maximin  Daia, 


Photo  :   Alinari  &  Cook,  Rome. 

CONSTANTINE     THE     GREAT. 
Statue  in  tlie  Portico  of  S.  John  Lateran,  Rome. 


CONSTANT [XE    THE    GREAT.  441 

was  made,  was  well  aware  that  men's  eyes  had  been  directed  to 
the  son  of  Constantius  as  the  natural  and  proper  person  on  whom 
the  nomination  as  Ccesar  of  the  West  should  have  fallen.  Con- 
stantino from  this  time  was  carefully  watched  and  guarded. 
Some  months  after  Galerius'  accession  to  supreme  power  an 
urgent  message  arrived  from  Constantius  Chlorus,who  was  rapidly 
failing,  requiring  the  immediate  presence  of  his  son  in  Britain. 
Curious  reports  were  current  of  the  jealous  hatred  entertained  by 
Galerius  of  the  brilliant  young  son  of  his  colleague ;  of  repetitions 
of  the  Old  Testament  story  of  King  Saul's  behaviour  towards 
David,  of  repeated  snares  laid  for  the  life  of  the  young  man  ; 
and  how  he  escaped  them  all,  adding  continually  to  his  reputa- 
tion for  courage  and  ability. 

Permission  was  at  length  reluctantly  given  him  to  leave  the 
Court  of  Nicomedia  in  order  to  visit  his  father  in  Gaul.  This  per- 
mission was  quickly  revoked,  but  Constantino  was  already  out  of 
Galerius'  reach.  In  Britain  the  dying  Emperor  commended  his 
son  to  the  legionaries,  who,  when  Constantius  Chlorus  passed 
away  at  York,  at  once  saluted  him  as  Emperor. 

When  Galerius  received  the  official  intelligence  of  the  death 
of  the  noble  Western  Emperor  and  the  accession  of  the  young 
Constantino  to  the  vacant  Throne,  his  first  impulse  was  to  insult 
the  new  Emperor  of  the  West ;  but  wiser  councils  prevailing  he 
reluctantly  acknowledged  Constantino  as  Cajsar,  reserving,  how- 
ever, the  higher  rank  of  Augustus  for  his  own  nominee,  Severus, 
who  was  ruling  in  Italy.  Constantino  made  no  protest  here, 
being  content  with  the  absolute  sovereignty  which  he  possessed 
over  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain,  and  paying  little  heed  to  the  exact 
title  recognised  by  the  elder  Emperor  in  far  aAvay  Nicomedia. 
He  at  once  published  an  edict,  so  favourable  to  the  Christians 
of  his  provinces  that  the  very  semblance  of  all  persecution  at 
once  ceased  even  in  those  districts  which  had  been  the  sphere 
of  influence  of  the  abdicated  Maximian,  notably  in  Spain. '^ 

Very  different,  however,  is  the  story  of  the  fortunes  of  the 

*  There  is  some  doubt  about  the  time  when  this  province  passed,  as  appar- 
ently it  did,  under  the  dominion  of  Constantius  Chlorus ;  probably  this  happened 
when  Diocletian  and  jMaximian  abdicated  and  Constantius  Chlorus  became  one  of 
the  Senior  Emperors,  with  the  title  of  Augustus. 


442  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM 

Church  in  the  Eastern  Provinces  of  the  Empire  during  the 
years  which  immediately  followed  the  abdication  of  Diocletian. 
In  the  provinces  under  the  rule  of  Galerius  the  harrying  of 
the  worshippers  of  Jesus  went  on  Avith  unabated  fury,  while 
in  the  dominions  especially  placed  under  the  charge  of  his 
nephew,  the  Ciiesar  Maximin  Daia,  the  pages  of  the  chronicler 
relating  the  fortunes  of  the  Christians  are  even  more  stained 
with  blood.  Indeed,  between  the  years  306  and  312-13 
this  peasant-born  tyrant,  so  suddenly  raised  from  a  position 
of  obscurity  to  a  throne,  stands  out  in  ghastly  prominence 
as  the  most  cruel  and  determined  of  the  persecutors.  The 
roll  of  his  victims  was  longer  even  than  the  death-roll  of 
the  infamous  Galerius,  to  whom  belongs  the  sad  credit  of 
being  the  original  inspirer  of  the  last  and  most  awful  of  the 
persecutions;  and  the  atrocities  perpetrated  in  his  name  and 
with  his  sanction  were  more  terrible  than  any  recorded  in  the 
stories  of  grievous  suffering  to  which  the  Christians  had  been 
previously  subjected. 

Maximin  Daia,  the  relentless  persecutor,  was  apparently  a 
man  of  no  culture.  He  was  a  superstitious  and  bigoted  Pagan. 
He  would  do  nothing  until  he  had  consulted  an  oracle ;  his 
extraordinary  superstition  manifested  itself  in  his  daily  life. 
Lactantius  {De  Mort.  Pers.,  37)  tells  us  how  "  his  custom 
was  daily  to  sacrifice  in  his  palace,  and  that  it  was  an  inven- 
tion of  his  to  cause  all  animals  used  for  food  to  be  slaughtered 
not  by  cooks  but  by  priests  at  the  altars,  so  that  nothing 
was  ever  served  up  imless  consecrated  and  sprinkled  with 
wine  in  accordance  with  the  rites  of  Paganism." 

Before  the  year  306  had  run  its  course  another  revolution 
in  Rome  gave  a  finishing  blow  to  the  supremacy  of  Galerius 
in  the  West,  a  supremacy  already  severely  shaken  a  few 
months  earlier  by  the  elevation  of  Constantino  to  the  throne 
of  his  father  in  Gaul,  Britain,  and  Spain. 

The  exciting  cause  of  the  Roman  revolt  seems  to  have 
been  certain  fiscal  measures  devised  by  Galerius  and  Severus 
by  which  a  long-cherished  immunity  from  taxation  was  taken 
from  the  citizens  of  Rome.  This  was  another  blow  aimed 
at    the    privileges   of    the    immemorial    capital.     The    Roman 


COXSTAXTINE    THE    GREAT.  443 

citizens  rose,  and,  driving  out  Severus,  tumultuously  pro- 
claimed Maxentius,  the  son  of  the  abdicated  Maximian 
HercuHiis,  Emperor.  Maxentius,  desirous  to  consolidate  his 
usurped  authority,  summoned  from  his  Lucanian  retirement 
his  father  Maximian,  who  was  too  ready  to  resume  his  old 
sovereignty.  Severus  made  but  a  feeble  resistance,  and  soon 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  usurpers;  he  was  allowed  as  an 
act  ot  mercy  to  put  an  end  to  his  life  and  reign  by  opening 
his  veins.  Thus  the  earl}-  months  of  a.d.  307  witnessed  the 
complete  disruption  of  the  tetrarchy  arranged  by  Galerius. 
In  the  West  Constantino,  Maximian  and  Maxentius  reigned 
over  Gaul,  Spain,  Britain,  Italy,  and  North  Afiica,  In  the 
East  Galerius  and  Maximin  Daia  were  Sovereigns  over  Egypt, 
Syria,  and  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  and  the  Danubian  frontier 
provinces.  But  there  was  no  longer  any  semblance  of  unity 
between  these  live  lords  of  the  vast  Roman  Empire.  The 
poHcy,  however,  which  Severus  had  pursued  in  Italy  and 
North  Africa,  which  left  the  Christians  at  peace,  was  main- 
tained by  Maxentius. 

Maximian,  on  the  resumption  of  his  ancient  position, 
at  once  souglit  the  alliance  and  support  of  Constantino, 
whose  weight  and  ever  -  increasing  influence  in  the  West 
was  generally  felt  and  acknowledged  throughout  the  Roman 
world.  He  visited  him  in  Gaul,  bestowed  upon  him  in 
marriage  his  daughter,  Fausta,  and,  once  more  assum- 
ing the  prerogatives  of  the  senior  Emperor,  created  him 
"  Augustus." 

Galerius  felt  deeply  the  affront  to  his  dignity  as  the 
senior  Augustus,  and  was  keenly  sensible  of  the  fatal  blow  to 
his  power  occasioned  by  this  new  development.  He  could 
not  quietly  acquiesce  in  the  deposition  of  his  nominee  Severus 
and  the  assumption  of  the  Imperial  dignity  by  the  old 
Emperor  Maximian  and  his  son  Maxentius;  and  he  deter- 
mined by  force  of  arms  to  assert  his  authority  and  to  reduce 
Rome  once  more  to  allegiance.  He  consequently,  with  a 
powerful  army,  invaded  Ital}-.  But  the  expedition  was  disas- 
trous, and  ended  in  an  ignominous  retreat.  Still  he  refused 
to  acknowledge  his  defeat.     Claiming  the  right  to  nominate  to 


444  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND   PAGANISM. 

the  throne  left  vaciint  by  the  death  of  Severus,  he  associated 
Licinius.  an    old   friend    and   former   brother-in-arms,  in    the 
Imperial  dignity  with  the  supreme  title  of  Augustus ;  assigning 
to  him,  as  his  sphere  of  influence,  Illyricum  and  the  Danubian 
frontier,  which  still   acknowledged   his  (Galerius')  sovereignty. 
The  position  of  the  Roman  Empire  at   the  close  of  the  year 
307  was  as  follows.     In  the   West  Constantine,  Maximian,  and 
Maxentius  were  supreme    and   were   more   or  less   united    by 
common    ties    of    interest,    since     Constantine    had     married 
the  daughter  of  Maximian.     In  the  East,  and  in  the  Danubian 
Provinces   including  Illyricum   and   Greece,  Galerius  was  still 
nominally  supreme,  and  was  acknowledged  as  senior  Emperor 
by  Licinius  and   Maximin  Daia,  the  former  being  his  devoted 
friend,  the  latter  his  nephew,  who  owed  him  everything.     Thus 
a  complete  cleavage  existed  between  the  West  and  East.     The 
cleavage   was   accentuated    by   the   position   of  the    Christian 
sect,   now   a    numerous    and    powerful   division   of  the   popu- 
lace.     In    the     West,    mainly    owing    to    the    Idndly    feeling 
towards  the   Church  felt   and   showed   by  Constantine,  whose 
influence    was    paramount,    the    Christians,   if    not    positively 
favoured,  were  certainly  left  unmolested.     In  the   East,  owing 
to   the    bitter    hatred    of    Galerius,    shared    emphatically    by 
Maximin    Daia,   the  Christians  were,  all   through   these   years 
of    danger    and     revolts,     cruelly    maltreated    and    ruthlessly 
persecuted. 

An  interesting  sidelight  has  been  of  late  years  cast  on  the 
position  of  the  Church  in  Rome,  circa  a.d.  307-S,  by  the  dis- 
covery of  some  of  the  inscriptions  of  Pope  Damasus,  origin- 
ally placed  in  the  Catacombs  between  a.d.  366  and  a.d.  884. 
These  inscriptions,  when  compared  with  statements  contained 
in  the  Liber  Pontijicalis,  tell  us  how  sorely  the  Christian 
community  in  Rome  was  rent  by  internal  dissensions  at  the 
time.  But  what  is  perhaps  more  important,  we  learn  incident- 
ally how  many  Roman  Pagans  at  that  time  Avere  being  enrolled 
in  the  Christian  communities.  No  general  restitution  of  the 
cemeteries  and  church  property  had  as  yet  been  made,  but 
that  they  had  access  to  some  certainly  of  the  cemeteries  is 
clear,  and  that  the  Church  in  Rome  generally  was  in  a  position 


CONSTANTIXE    THE    GREAT.  445 

which  made  possible  a  considerable  measure  of  re-organisation 
is  also  evident. 

The  internal  troubles  to  which  we  refer  were  ov.'ing  to 
the  disputes  Avhich  so  often  arose  after  a  period  of  bitter  per- 
secution. Some  Christians,  under  the  terrible  pressure  of  the 
Diocletian  persecution  of  a.d.  803-4-5,  had  submitted  to  sacri- 
fice; in  various  ways  had  conformed  to  the  requirements  of 
Pagan  ritual;  and  when  the  storm  was  passed  were  desirous 
of  being  re- admitted  to  the  Church.  The  question  of  the 
treatment  of  these  "  Lapsi "  in  time  of  persecution  had  been 
frequently  agitated,  notably  after  the  Decian  persecution  some 
half  a  century  before,  when  the  authorities  of  the  Church 
had  wisely  decided  to  re-admit  penitents  after  a  longer  or 
shorter  period  of  penance,  as  the  offence  committed  by  the 
"  Lapsi "  seemed  to  require.  The  general  principle  laid  down 
was  that  whilst  real  penitence  must  be  shown  by  those  who 
had,  in  the  hour  of  extreme  peril,  fallen  away,  the  door  of 
mercy  and  pity  was  not  to  be  closed  upon  them.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  will  be  remembered,  that  in  former  times  a 
strong  party  of  rigorists  existed  in  the  Church,  who  abso- 
lutely refused  re-admittance  to  these  poor  renegades. 

In  the  Roman  troubles  of  307-S  the  Church  authorities 
were  confronted  not  with  the  party  of  rigorists,  but  with  a 
section  of  the  Church  who  would  at  once  and  without  penance 
receive  back  again  into  the  community  all  such  "  Lapsi." 
The  dissensions  assumed  grave  proportions,  and  even  blood 
was  shed  in  the  regrettable  tumults  which  ensued.  The  reign- 
ing Pope,  or  Bishop  of  Rome,  was  Marcellus,  who — after  an 
interregnum  of  some  three  or  four  years,  roughly  the  time  of 
the  persecution  of  Diocletian — had  been  elected  as  the  successor 
of  the  Confessor  Marcellinus.  Marcellus  was  banished  by 
Maxentius,  son  of  Maximian,  the  ruling  Emperor,  in  conse- 
quence of  these  disturbances,  and  died  in  exile,  probably 
owing  to  harsh  treatment. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Eusebius,  who,  after  a  short  ponti- 
ficate, likewise  died  in  exile.  The  remains  of  both  these 
prelates  were  brought  back  to  Rome,  and  were  buried  with 
all  honour  in  the  Catacombs.      Portions  of  the  sarcophagus  of 


446  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Eusebius  have  been  lately  discovered,  and  inscriptions  of  Pope 
Damasus  relating  to  both  these  prelates  have  been  also  found. 
Pope  Eusebius  Avas  succeeded  by  Miltiades,  of  whom  Ave  shall 
have  occasion  to  speak  later. 

We  return  to  our  brief  sketch  of  the  confused  and  dis- 
turbed political  history  of  the  period  reaching  from  a.d.  305 
to  313,  the  dates  respectively  of  the  abdication  of  Diocletian 
and  of  the  promulgation  of  Constan tine's  Edict  of  ]\Iilan. 
The  alliance  between  Maximian  and  Maxentius,  the  old 
Emperor  who  had  abdicated,  and  his  ambitious,  profligate 
son,  was  only  of  brfef  duration.  The  father  claimed  the 
supreme  power  over  Italy  and  Africa,  maintaining  that 
Maxentius  owed  his  throne  and  position  to  his  own  old 
prestige  and  military  abilities.  Maxentius,  on  the  other  hand, 
asserted  that  he  had  been  legall}'^  elected  by  the  Roman  Senate 
and  people  independently  of  any  paternal  assistance.  Max- 
imian was  driven  by  his  son  from  Rome,  and,  failing  to  obtain 
any  assistance  from  Galerius,  took  refuge  in  Gaul,  where  he 
Avas  kindly  received  by  his  son-in-laAV,  Constantino,  and  his 
daughter,  the  Empress  Fausta ;  there  he  again  Avent  through 
the  form  of  a  fresh  abdication.  But  the  restless  old  man, 
taking  advantage  of  the  absence  of  Constantino  on  a  military 
expedition  against  a  Frankish  raid,  endeavoured  to  stir  up 
a  revolt  against  him.  The  rising  AA^as  soon  put  doAvn,  and 
Maximian  Avas  condemned  to  die.  He  perished  by  his  oAvn 
hands.  This  second  period  of  Maximian's  active  life  had 
lasted  a  little  over  three  years.  He  died,  unpitied,  early  in 
the  year  310,  generally  regarded  as  an  ambitious  and  self- 
seeking  intriguer. 

In  the  year  310  Galerius  sickened  of  a  grave  and  incurable 
malady.  It  seems  to  have  been  of  the  nature  of  a  malignant 
ulcer,  Avhich  gradually  spread ;  the  loathsome  details  of  the 
painful  sickness  are  given  by  Eusebius  (H.  E.,  viii.  16), 
and  at  yet  greater  length  by  Lactantius  {De  Mart.  Pers.,  33). 

The  many  physicians  Avho  Avere  summoned  to  the  bedside 
of  the  suffering  Emperor  Avere  unable  to  afford  any  relief, 
and  Ave  read  hoAv  some  of  these  Avere  even  put  to  death  in 
consequence  of  their  failure. 


CONSTANTIXE    THE    GREAT.  447 

The  oracles  of  Apollo  and  .Esciilapius  were  consulted 
in  vain.  Rufinus  (R.  E.,  viii.  18)  tells  us  how  one  of  the 
physicians  had  the  boldness  to  tell  the  d3?^ing  tyrant  that  his 
sufferings  were  beyond  the  reach  of  human  aid,  and  that  his 
only  hope  lay  in  the  God  of  those  Christians  whom  he 
had  so  cruelly  persecuted. 

This  may,  or  may  not,  be  true ;  it  is,  however,  certain  that 
Galerius,  in  his  mortal  agony,  endeavoured  to  make  a  tardy 
amends  for  the  awful  suffering  for  which  he  was  responsible ; 
and  in  the  year  311  a  remarkable  Edict  of  Toleration  was 
published  in  the  joint  names  of  Galerius,  Licinius,  and 
Constantino. 

The  text  of  the  edict  is  preserved  in  the  original  Latin 
form  in  Lactantius  (De  Mort.  Pers.,  34),  and  in  a  Greek 
translation  in  Eusebius  {H.  E.,  viii.  17). 

It  Avas  a  disingenuous  document,  and  on  the  face  of  it 
appeared  no  trace  of  the  hideous  crvielties  perpetrated  in  the 
course  of  the  long  drawn-out  persecution.  It  recounted  how 
many  of  the  Christians,  after  the  publication  of  the  edict, 
had  submitted  to  the  observance  of  the  ancient  institutions  ; 
but  it  allowed  that  great  numbers  still  persisted  in  their 
opinions;  and,  because  it  had  been  seen  that  at  present  they 
neither  paid  reverence  and  due  adoration  to  the  gods,  nor 
yet  worshipped  their  own  God,  therefore  "  We,  from  our 
wonted  clemency  in  bestowing  pardon  on  all,  have  judged  it 
right  to  extend  our  indulgence  to  these  men,  and  to  permit 
them  again  to  be  Christians,  and  to  establish  the  places  of 
their  religious  assemblies."  The  Imperial  document  closed 
with  a  request  for  their  prayers  in  the  following  words: 
"Wherefore  it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  Christians,  in  conse- 
quence of  this  our  toleration,  to  pray  to  their  God  for  our 
welfare,  and  for  that  of  the  public,  and  for  their  own,  that 
the  republic  may  continue  safe  in  every  quarter,  and  that 
they  may  live  securely  in  their  dwellings." 

The  Edict  of  Toleration  was  published  in  the  Asiatic  and 
western  dominions  of  Galerius,  in  the  realm  of  Licinius  and 
even  in  the  Western  provinces  of  Constantine.  The  name 
of  Maxentius,   who  was   not  recognised  by  Galerius,  does  not 


448  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

appear  in  the  preamble;  but  in  Italy  and  Africa  the  Church 
had  long  enjoyed  a  doubtful  and  somewhat  precarious 
toleration ;  the  name  of  Maximin  Daia,  Galerius'  nephew, 
the  most  cruel  of  the  persecuting  princes,  was  not  appended 
to  the  Imperial  edict,  but  he  did  not  venture  to  oppose  it, 
and  for  a  time  persecution  ceased  even  in  his  Eastern  provinces, 
Galerius  expired  very  shortly  afterwards. 

Eusebius  {H.  E.,  ix.  1)  graphically  paints  the  joy  of 
the  Christians  in  the  dominions  of  Galerius  and  Maximin, 
and  tells  us  how  the  prisons  were  opened  and  the  mines 
cleared  of  captives,  how  like  a  flash  of  light  blazing  out  of 
thick  darkness  in  every  city  one  could  see  congregations 
collected,  assemblies  crowded,  and  the  accustomed  meetings 
once  more  held.  "The  very  roads,"  he  tells  us,  "were 
thronged  by  the  noble  soldiers  of  religion,  journeying  to 
their  own  homes,  singing  the  praises  of  God  in  hymns  and 
psalms,  with  bright  joyous  countenances." 

The  dominions  of  the  dead  Galerius  were  divided  by  his 
two  nominees,  his  Asian  provinces  falling  to  the  lot  of 
Maximin  Daia,  while  those  situated  in  Europe  were  added  to 
the  realm  of  Licinius, 

The  rejoicings  of  the  long-harassed  Eastern  Christians 
were  soon  hushed.  Maximin  Daia  was  a  bigoted  Pagan. 
He  hated  Christianity  with  an  intense  hate,  and  although  he 
yielded  for  the  moment  to  the  general  impulse  of  toleration 
which  proceeded  from  the  sick  bed  of  the  dying  Galerius 
the  Emperor  of  the  East  never  swerved  from  his  long- 
cherished  determination  to  exterminate  the  Christians  from 
his  widespread  dominions.  In  less  than  six  months  after 
the  promulgation  of  Galerius'  Edict  of  Toleration,  his  measures 
were  again  in  full  operation,  and  once  more  the  Christian 
of  the  East  found  himself  an  outlaw  and  proscribed.  The 
measures  adopted  were  well  and  skilfully  planned.  The 
Pagan  party  arranged  that  petitions  and  addresses  from  great 
cities,  such  as  Antioch,  should  be  presented  to  the  Emperor 
against  the  Christians,  deprecating  the  late  measures  of  tolera- 
tion, and  urging  all  the  old  pleas;  such  as  the  anger  of 
the  gods  against  the  hated  sect,  and  the  consequent   danger 


GONSTANTINE    THE    GREAT.  449 

to  tlie  well-being  of  tlie  Empire  owing  to  their  wrath. 
Maximin  Daia  gladly  listened  to  their  "  manufactured  "  requests, 
professing  to  see  in  them  the  irresistible  voice  of  public 
opinion.  Once  more  the  churches  and  the  cemeteries  of  the 
followers  of  Jesus  were  peremptorily  closed,  and  all  Christian 
meetings  sternly  forbidden ;  efforts  were  made  to  arouse  a  real 
anti-Christian  feeling  among  the  people.  Writings,  such  as 
the  spurious  "  Acts  of  Pilate,"  a  composition,  dating  only 
from  the  early  years  of  the  fourth  century,  which  in  the 
form  circulated  by  the  Imperial  emissaries  set  forth  the 
events  of  the  Passion  of  the  Lord  in  a  blasphemous  parody, 
were  scattered  broadcast  through  the  cities  and  villages  of 
Maximin  Daia's  provinces.  They  were  published  openly ; 
they  were  given  to  the  schoolmasters  as  subjects  of  study 
for  their  pupils.  "The  very  boys,"  says  Eusebius,  "had  the 
names  of  Jesus  and  Pilate  and  the  forged  '  Acts '  in  derision 
in  their  mouths  all  day"  {H.  E.,  ix.  5-7).  The  vilest  accusa- 
tions were  formally  made  against  the  Christians.  Nothing, 
indeed,  was  left  undone  to  stir  up  public  opinion  against 
the  detested  sect. 

The    great    historian    gives  us    [H.  E.,  ix.  7)  a  transcript 
of  an  Epistle  of   the  Emperor,  a  kind  of  State  paper,  which 
was  engraved  on   a  brass  tablet  and  publicly  set  up  at  Tyre, 
as  a  specimen   of  the   Emperor's  edicts   and   pronouncements 
in  favour  of  Paganism  published  at  this  time.     The   Epistle  of 
the   Emperor,   in   which   he   decreed   the   banishment   of    the 
worshippers   of  Jesus  from   the   city,  was   in   reply  to  one   of 
those  anti-Christian  petitions  addressed  to  him  by  the  citizens 
of  which  we  have  spoken  above.     It  has  been  happily  termed, 
a   Pagan    sermon    or    "  Pastoral,"    a   kind   of  "  Te  Deum "   of 
Paganism  sung   on    the    eve    of    its    final    defeat."^     After   a 
wordy  preamble,  dwelling  on  the  happy  victory  of  the  human 
mind   over   the   clouds   of  delusion,   a   victory  which  had   led 
to  the   universal  recognition    of    the   providence   of    the    im- 
mortal gods,  the  Emperor  expressed  his  delight  and  pleasure 
at   the   regard  and    reverence  manifested   by  the   citizens  (of 
Tyre)  towards  the  gods.     He  noticed  that  their  pious  petition 

*  Allard  :  Persecution  de  BiocUtien,  ii.,  chap,  ix.,  11. 
D  D 


460  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY    AND    PAGANISM. 

to  him  contained  no  ordinary  request  for  any  local  privilege 
or  advantage,  but  dealt  only  with  the  question  of  the  votaries 
of  an  execrable  vanity  (the  Christians),  long  disregarded, 
rising  up,  like  a  funeral  pyre  which  had  been  smothered, 
once  more  in  mighty  flames  (alluding  here  to  the  results  of 
the  late  Edict  of  Toleration).  Maximin  Daia  then  proceeded 
to  congratulate  the  citizens,  who  had  been  evidently  inspired 
by  the  supreme  and  mighty  Jupiter  to  make  their  petition 
to  him  to  free  them  from  the  sect  they  so  wisely  detested. 
Then  he  dwelt  on  the  gracious  kindness  of  the  sods  towards 
them,  refraining  as  these  immortals  had  done  from  inflicting 
upon  them  the  awful  calamities  which  had  often  been  the 
result  of  Christian  foll}^,  and  which  they  might  reasonably 
have  expected  would  have  been  their  fate  too.  In  their  case, 
however,  their  piety,  their  sacrifices  had  propitiated  the  divinity 
of  the  all-powerful  and  mighty  Mars  (the  Avenger).  Those 
Christians  who  had  abandoned  these  blind  delusions  were  to 
enjoy  quietness  and  peace.  But  those  who  still  clung  to 
their  execrable  folly  were  to  be  driven  out  and  banished  far 
from  the  city. 

Similar  letters  and  edicts  were  sent  by  Maximin  Daia  to 
all  the  provinces  in  his  dominion. 

At  the  same  time  a  great  effort  was  made  by  the  deter- 
mined Pagan  Emperor  to  strengthen  the  cult  of  the  old 
gods  by  the  revival  of  a  magnificent  and  striking  ritual, 
not  only  in  the  stately  fanes  of  great  cities,  such  as  Antioch 
and  Tyre,  but  as  far  as  possible  even  in  the  more  humble 
rural  sanctuaries. 

At  first  Maximin  Daia  seems  to  have  refrained  from  open 
bloodshed  in  the  case  of  the  harassed  Christians,  contenting 
himself  with  banishing,  mutilating,  and  otherwise  maltreating 
the  worshippers  of  Jesus ;  but  soon  severer  measures  were 
adopted,  and  persecution  was  decreed  equalling  in  its  cruel 
severity  that  which  had  prevailed  before  the  Edict  of  Tolera- 
tion had  been  put  out  from  the  death  chamber  of  Galerius. 
Once  more  the  provinces  of  the  East,  where  Maximin  Daia 
was  paramount,  were  the  scenes  of  a  terrible  Christian  per- 
secution. 


CONSTANTINE    THE    GREAT.  451 

But  tlie  end  of  all  this  was  nio-li  at  hand. 

We  turn  again  to  the  Western  Empire,  where  grave 
political  events  were  occurring  which  completely  changed  the 
whole  aspect  of  affairs  throughout  the  Roman  world. 

The  peace  of  the  provinces  of  the  Western  Empire  seemed 
secured  by  the  close  connection  through  marriage  ties  of 
the  three  Sovereigns  who  reigned  respectively  over  Gaul, 
Spain,  and  Britain,  Italy  and  North  Africa,  Illyricum  and  the 
Danubian  provinces.  Constantino,  the  most  powerful  of  the 
three  Lords  of  the  West,  as  we  have  seen,  was  married  to 
Fausta,  the  daughter  of  Maximian,  while  a  marriage  was 
arranged  between  Licinius,  the  Sovereign  of  Eastern  Europe, 
and  Constantia,  the  half-sister  of  Constantino. 

In  the  vast  territories  ruled  by  these  three  Emperors 
the  quiet  long  enjoj-ed  by  the  Christians  was  completely 
ratified  by  the  Edict  of  Toleration,  lately  put  out  by  the 
dying  Galerius.  In  Rome  Maxentius,  for  reasons  unknown 
to  us,  but  not  improbably  connected  with  the  idea  of 
attaching  the  powerful  sect  more  closely  to  his  Government, 
promulgated  an  edict  which  restored  the  long-confiscated 
possessions  of  the  Church,  including  the  subterranean  ceme- 
teries especially  dear  to  the  community  of  Rome  from  the 
hallowed  traditions  of  a  glorious  past. 

Miltiades,  the  poj^e  or  bishop  of  the  ancient  metropolis,  who 
had  succeeded  Eusebius,  who  died  in  his  banishment,  was 
formally  recognised  by  the  Imperial  Government  as  the  head  of 
the  Christian  community  of  Rome.  His  first  act  was,  as  we 
noticed  above,  to  inter  the  remains  of  his  predecessor  Eusebius 
with  reverent  care  in  one  of  the  sacred  chambers  which  once 
more  had  become  the  property  of  the  Church. 

The  peace  of  the  Roman  world,  however,  was  broken  by  the 
ambitious  views  of  the  evil  Maxentius.'^     Jealous  of  the  prestige 


*  The  Sovereigns  of  Italy  and  the  East,  Maxentius  and  Maximin  Daia,  have  wen 
a  certain  prominence  among  the  wicked  Emperors  of  Rome.  Their  shameless 
immoralities  were  even  more  notorious  than  those  indulged  in  by  their  worst 
predecessors  on  the  throne.  The  conduct  of  ]\Iaxentius  especially  had  alienated  all 
the  best  and  most  serious  of  his  Roman  subjects.  He  was  universally  regarded  with 
detestation  and  loathiner. 


452  EARLY   GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

and  power  of  Constantine,  the  pretext  he  alleged  for  the  declara- 
tion of  war  against  his  brother-in-law  was  the  treatment  of 
the  old  Maximian,  who  had  been  condemned  to  die,  after  the 
failure  of  his  infamous  conspiracy.  Maxentius  had  previously 
quarrelled  with  his  father  and  driven  him  from  his  dominions, 
but  he  chose  to  regard  Constantino's  conduct  towards  the  rest- 
less old  conspirator  as  a  deadly  offence. 

Maxentius,  conscious  of  possessing  an  army  considerably 
larger  than  his  adversary's,  and  confident  of  success,  proceeded 
to  insult  the  great  Western  Emperor  by  publicly  throwing  down 
the  statues  erected  in  his  honour  in  Italy  and  Africa.  In  view 
of  the  coming  war,  Constantine,  who  had  determined,  even 
with  his  smaller  force,"^  to  invade  Italy,  had  secured  the 
neutrality  of  Licinius,  to  whom  he  had  betrothed  his  sister 
Constantia.  But  it  was  a  perilous  and  dangerous  adventure, 
and  only  the  consummate  generalship  of  Constantine  and  the 
wonderful  celerity  of  his  movements  prevented  the  disaster  to 
his  arms  to  which  Maxentius  confidently  looked  forward,  f 

Without  delay  the  Gallic  Emperor,  leading  his  troops  over 
the  rugged  and  inhospitable  passes  of  the  Mont  Ceuis  Alps,  won 
a  series  of  brilliant  victories  over  the  armies  of  his  adversary 
successively  at  Susa,  Turin,  and  Verona,  and  reached  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Rome,  with  a  small  army  of  picked  veterans, 
flushed  with  victory,  and  inspired  with  confidence  in  their 
brave  and  skilful  commander. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  immemorial  capital  of  the 
Roman  Avorld  the  last  stand  was  made  by  the  still  numerous 
armies  of  Maxentius;  the  same  good  fortune  which  had 
accompanied  the  daring  army  of  invaders  all  through  the 
successful  campaign  again  befriended  them.  The  disposition  of 
the  forces  of  Maxentius  was  incompetent,  and  every  error  in 
strategy  was  turned  to  account  b}^  the  consummate  generalship  of 
the  Western  Emperor.     The  result  was  a  triumphant  victory; 

*  The  disposable  legionaries  of  Constantine  were  computed  at  about  40,000  men, 
but  they  were  trained  and  war-worn  soldiers  ;  40,000  men  of  his  troops  were  engaged 
in  defending  the  Rhine  frontier.  Maxentius  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  said  by  Zosimus, 
had  well-nigh  190,000  legionaries  under  arms  in  Italy. 

f  The  question  of  Divine  assistance  being  given  to  the  Emperor  Constantine  in 
this  campaign  against  Maxentius  will  be  presently  discussed  at  some  length. 


GONSTANTINE    THE    GREAT.  453 

the  Milvian  Bridge  over  tlie  Tiber,  the  scene  of  the  final  rout  of 
the  Itahan  Emperor's  forces,  gave  its  name  to  one  of  the  decisive 
battles  of  the  world.  In  the  headlong  flight  which  ensued 
Maxentius  perished  in  the  waters  of  the  Tiber,  and  the  victorious 
Constantine  immediately  took  possession  of  Rome,  where  he  was 
received  with  enthusiasm  as  a  deliverer.  Indeed,  there  is  little 
doubt  but  that  the  shameful  excesses  of  Maxentius  had  largely 
.affected  the  loyalty  of  his  subjects,  and  had  contributed  in 
no  small  degree  to  the  wonderful  and  rapid  success  of  the 
Emperor  Constantine,  in  his  victorious  march  from  the  passes 
of  the  Mont  Cenis  to  the  gates  of  Rome. 

The  crowning  victory  of  the  Milvian  Bridge  and  the  entry 
of  Constantine  into  Rome  took  place  in  the  October  of  the 
year  312. 

SECTION   II. — THE   CONVERSION   OF   CONSTANTINE. 

Among  the  rulers  of  the  Roman  world  between  a.d.  305 
and  A.D.  312,  the  years  which  immediately  followed  the  abdi- 
cation of  Diocletian,  one  figure  occupies  a  peculiar  place. 
Maximian,  Galerius,  Maximin  Daia,  Severus,  Maxentius,  were 
.all  stained  more  or  less  with  crimes,  with  offences  of  the 
gravest  complexion  against  morality,  with  greed,  selfishness, 
heartless  ambition,  remorseless  cruelty;  nor  were  they  in  any 
way  specially  distinguished  as  wise  or  capable  Sovereigns.  Only 
the  son  of  Constantius  Chlorus,  Constantine — in  after  days 
generally  known  as  "the  Great" — has  been  characterised  alike 
by  Pagan  as  by  Christian  writers  as  a  wise  and  good  ruler  of 
men ;  not  only  a  brave  and  skilful  general,  but  also  a  capable 
and  far-seeing  prince  in  times  of  quietness  and  peace. 

Constantine  was  scarcely  twenty  years  of  age  when  in 
392  his  father,  Constantius  Chlorus,  was  promoted  to  the  high 
dignity  of  Ceesar,  and  was  invested  with  the  government  of 
Greater  Gaul,  including  distant  Britain.  This  great  promotion 
of  Constantine's  father  was,  however,  coupled  with  the  under- 
standing that  the  new  Cresar  should  put  away  or  divorce 
Helena,  the  mother  of  his  son,  and  espouse  the  daughter 
of  the  Augustus  Maximian.  We  presently  hear  of  the  ap- 
parently disinherited  Constantine  as  attached  to  the  service  of 


454  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Diocletian,  in  whose  armies  he  quickly  rose  to  the  conspicuous 
station  of  a  tribune.  When  Diocletian  resigned  the  purple, 
it  was  the  general  expectation  that  the  brilliant  young 
soldier,  who  was  then  a  little  more  than  thirty  years  of  age, 
would  bo  appointed  Ciesar ;  but,  as  we  have  seen,  Galerius, 
who  was  all-powerful  in  the  State,  had  other 'views,  and  Con- 
stantino was  loft  for  the  present  in  a  private  station.  Shortly 
after,  the  dying  Constantius  Chlorus  recalled  to  his  side  the 
long-absent  son  of  Helena,  and  procured  his  nomination  by 
the  army  of  Britain  and  Gaul  to  sovereign  rank,  leaving  in 
his  charge  his  children  by  his  second  marriage.  In  spite  of 
the  ill-will  of  Galerius,  Constantine  succeeded  to  the  great 
dominions  ruled  over  by  his  father,  to  which  Spain  had  prob- 
ably been  recently  added.  He  thus  became  Sovereign  Ruler 
over  the  Western  provinces  of  the  Empire  in  a.d.  306.  For 
the  next  five  or  six  years  his  government  was  characterised  by 
moderation  and  firmness.  The  frontiers  were  protected  from 
the  raids  of  the  barbarians,  and  his  dominion  generally  enjoyed 
quiet  and  prosperity.  Although  all  through  this  period  of  his 
life  he  carefully  carried  out  the  Pagan  observances  required  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  Empire,  officiating  at  the  dedication  of 
Pagan  temples  and  publicly  taking  part  in  the  sacrificial  cere- 
monies, yet  his  Christian  subjects  generally  enjoyed  quietness,, 
if  not  something  of  official  recognition.  His  great  reputation 
as  a  wise  Sovereign  and  a  skilful  military  commander  was 
well  known  throughout  the  Roman  world,  and  gave  him  vast 
and  widespread  influence. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  circumstances  which  led 
to  the  war  between  Constantine  and  his  brother-in-law, 
Maxentius,  the  Sovereign  of  Italy  and  Africa.  During  this 
period,  the  early  autiunn  of  a.d,  312,  took  place  the  event 
which  had  so  far-reaching  an  influence  on  the  story  of  the 
world — his  conversion  to  Christianit}^ 

The  Pagan  writer  Zosimus^   has  a  strange  story  referring 

*  Zosimus  was  a  Government  official,  apparently  of  some  rank,  at  Con- 
stantinople in  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century.  His  history,  written  in  Gret^k 
in  six  books,  treats  in  Book  I.  very  biiefiy  the  lives  of  the  Emperors  Augustus 
to   Diocletian;  15ooks  II. -IV.  in  much  greater  detail  contain  the  history  of  the 


CONSTANTINE    THE    GREAT.  455 

the  date  to  a.d.  326,  and  attributing  it  to  remorse  for  the  death 
of  his  wife  aad  of  his  eldest  son,  Crispus.  The  Pagan  pontiffs, 
on  being  asked  what  expiation  he  would  malce  for  that  judicial 
murder,  replied  that  they  were  aware  of  none  which  would 
atone  for  such  evil  deeds.  Hence,  on  being  informed  that 
there  was  no  sin,  however  grave,  which  could  not  be  washed 
away  by  the  Christian  sacraments,  the  Emperor  joyfully 
embraced  a  religion  in  which  he  could,  on  easy  terms,  obtain 
peace.  But  this  is  all  imaginary ;  for  we  have  abundant  proof 
that  the  Imperial  conversion  belongs  to  a  much  earlier  period 
than  A.D,  326.  The  famous  Edict  of  Milan  was  promulgated 
in  A.D.  313,  and  a  number  of  historical  incidents  between 
A.D.  312-13  and  a.d.  325  indisputably  show  that  all  through 
this  period  the  Emperor  was  an  earnest  Christian. 

Lactantius  {De  Mortibus  PerseciUorum,  44)  mentions  as 
taking  place  in  a.d.  311"^  the  dream  of  Constantine,  directing 
him  to  mark  the  shields  of  his  legionaries  with  the  sacred 
sig-n  of  the  cross  before  the  decisive  battle  of  the  Milvian 
Bridge,  in  which  Maxentius  was  defeated  and  slain.  Eusebius 
{H.  E.,  ix.  9),  writing  before  the  death  of  Crispus,  relates 
how  Constantine  invoked  the  aid  of  the  God  of  Heaven  and 
of  His  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  then  by  the  Divine  assistance 
defeated  the  tyrant  (Maxentius) ;  and  the  same  writer  later, 
in  his  "  Life  of  Constantine,"  i.  28-29,  gives  us  careful  details 
of  the  event  in  question;  details  which  he  says  he  heard 
from  the  Emperor  himself.  The  story  is  a  remarkable  one. 
The  scene  of  the  wonderful  appearance  and  of  the  dream 
was  somewhere  on  the  march  from  Gaul  to  Italy,  apparently 
before t  Italy  was  entered,  and  probably  in  the  wild  and 
inhospitable    defiles    of   the    Mont    Cenis    pass.      Constantine 

period  from  the  accession  of  Constantius  and  Galerius  to  the  death  of  Theodosius. 
The  Fifth  and  Sixth  treat  of  the  years  between  a.u.  39.3  and  a.d.  410.  The  work 
is  unfinished. 

*"  Lactantiu.-j,  apparently  through  an  error,  antedates  the  event  by  one 
year. 

t  Both  Boissier,  Lafn  dc  Paganimic  (1898)  (vol.  i.,  chaps,  ii.,  iii.),  and  Allard 
Persecution  dc  BioclHlen,  vol.  i.,  x.  1  (1898),  who  discuss  the  question  of  the 
conversion  at  considerable  length,  place  the  scene  early  in  the  campaign  of 
Constantine,  before  the  Emperor  had  entered  the  Italian  plains. 


456  EARLY    CHBJSTIANITY   AND    FAGANISM. 

was  on  horseback,  and  was  meditating  upon  the  difficulties 
and  dangers  of  his  daring  adventure.  He  thought  of  the 
small  number  of  his  legionaries,  and  recalled  with  a  super- 
stitious fear  what  he  had  heard  of  his  adversary  Maxentius' 
great  devotion  to  the  Pagan  gods.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  as  yet  Constantino  was  a  professed  Pagan.  Alone  could 
he  hope  to  be  victorious  if  some  divinity  was  on  his  side. 
Then  it  came  into  his  mind  how  many  of  the  rulers  of 
Ptome,  who  had  trusted  in  the  gods  of  Rome,  had  perished, 
and  their  children,  and  their  very  memory  too,  had  passed 
away.  Only  one  could  he  remember  who  had  prospered — 
his  own  father  Constantius,  who  was  a  Monotheist.  Who 
was  this  One  God  who  had  helped  Constantius  Chlorus  ?  So 
he  prayed  earnestly  in  his  sore  need  that  the  God  who 
had  helped  his  father  would  manifest  Himself  to  him  and 
give  him  protection.  Then  as  he  jorayed  came  the  wonderful 
sign — the  luminous  cross  in  heaven  with  the  writing, 
"  Conquer  with  this."  ^  The  heavenly  vision  was  seen,  so 
runs  the  story  given  in  Eusebius,  not  only  by  Constantine 
but  by  his  soldiers.  That  night  the  Emperor  had  a  remark- 
able dream, t  in  which  Christ  appeared  to  him  and  bade 
him  make  at  once  an  ensisTi  under  which  his  leofions  would 
be  victorious  in  the  ensuing  campaign.  Around  the  story 
of  the  conversion  of  Constantine,  as  related  by  Eusebius  and 
generally  followed  by  ecclesiastical  writers,  has  arisen  a  war 
of  diverse  opinions ;  one  school  of  writers  deriding  it  as  belong- 
ing to  the  improbable  if  not  to  the  impossible ;  the  other  school 
accepting   it  as   a  piece   of  true    history.      The    consequences 

*  Eusebius  tells  the  story  in  Greek ;  the  words  which  accompanied  the 
cross  were :  "  rovrcf}  vIko"  ;  but  Constantine  and  his  legionaries  spoke  Latin, 
so  the  words  in  Constantine's  own  narrative  to  Eusebius  were  no  doubt,  "Hoc 
vince,"  or  "Hoc  vinces." 

fit  has  been  suggested  that  the  "dream"  referred  to  by  Lactantius 
(De  Mort.  Fers.,  44)  was  an  appearance  of  Christ  subsequent  to  the  one  related 
in  the  "  Life  of  Constantine,"  which  followed  immediately  after  the  luminous 
appearance  of  the  cross  in  the  heavens.  "The  Command"  given  in  Lactantius' 
vision  directs  the  cross  symbol  to  be  marked  upon  the  shields.  The  first 
vision  simply  gave  direction  as  to  the  standard  or  ensign.  Prudentius,  Contra 
Symmaclium,  i.  486-488,  mentions  the  cross  upon  ^the  ensign  and  also  on 
the  shields  of  the  legionaries. 


o   •= 


CONSTANTINE    TEE    GREAT.  457 

of  the  conversion  of  the  great  Western  Emperor  have  been  so 
momentous  and  far-reaching  that  it  will  be  worth  our  while 
quietly  and  dispassionately  to  see  how  the  matter  stands. 

It  is  perfectly  clear  that  before  the  campaign  which 
resulted  in  the  defeat  and  death  of  Maxentius,  and  the 
consequent  annexation  of  his  broad  dominions  of  Italy  and 
North  Africa  to  the  realm  of  the  Gallic  Emperor,  Constantino 
was  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  Pagan  ruler ;  one  who, 
it  is  true,  viewed  the  Christian  sect  benevolently,  possibly 
even  favourably,  but  emphatically  not  a  Christian  and  ap- 
parently with  no  idea  of  becommg  one. 

It  is  equally  clear  that  during  the  campaign  in  question 
he  changed  his  mind  on  the  question  of  Christianity,  and 
fought  the  several  battles  with  Maxentius  and  his  lieutenants 
avowedly  under  the  protection  of  Him  on  whom  the  Christian 
called,  with  a  sacred  banner  floating  above  his  legions  inscribed 
with  the  holy  symbol  and  awful  monogram  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Equally  certain  is  it  that  after  the  crowning  victory  of  the 
Milvian  Bridge,  Constantino  made  a  public  profession  of  his 
Christianity,  assertmg  it  not  only  in  a  formal  State  edict 
but  showing  it  by  his  personal  interest  in  the  inner  life  and 
government  of  the  Christian  Church.  He  was  evidently 
intensely  in  earnest. 

Something,  then,  must  have  happened  early  in  the  cam- 
paign against  Maxentius,  which  brought  about  so  great  a 
change  in  the  opinions  and  subsequent  conduct  of  the  Emperor 
Constantino.  This  "  something  "  Lactantius  (De  Mortihus  Fers., 
44)  tells  us  was  a  dream  in  which  he  received  a  command 
to  stamp  upon  the  shields  of  his  legionaries  the  sign  of  the 
cross.  Eusebius,  in  his  "  History  "  (ix.  9),  is  still  vaguer,  simply 
stating  that  he  prayed  to  God  and  to  His  Son  and  Word, 
Jesus  Christ,  and  was  divinely  assisted  in  the  battle.  Only 
in  Eusebius'  later  work,  in  his  "  Life  of  Constantino,"  appears 
the  story  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  Heaven,  told  at  some 
length  as  it  had  been  related  to  him  by  the  Emperor  himself : 
the  sign  being  the  response  vouchsafed  as  an  answer  to  earnest, 
anxious  prayer,  and  followed  by  the  dream  which  we  have 
related  above. 


45S  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

The  bona  fides  of  Eusebius  here  is  evident.  He  makes 
no  effort  to  represent  his  hero  in  a  specially  favourable  light. 
He  describes  him  as  anxious  about  the  success  of  his  perilous 
adventure,  and  casting  about  for  an  Immortal  who  should 
help  his  arms  and  crown  his  expedition  with  victory.  In 
this  perplexity  he  bethinks  him  of  the  unknown  God  who 
had  blessed  his  father,  and  to  him  he  turns  with  earnest 
prayer — answered,  as  he  thought,  by  a  miraculous  sign,* 
followed  by  a  dream.  Victory  followed,  and,  thus  convinced, 
he  became  a  devout  follower  of  the  Innnortal  Being  who  had 
blessed  him  in  his  hour  of  danger  and  of  urgent  need.  The 
very  earthiness  of  the  whole  transaction  is  a  witness  of  its 
veracity.  Had  Eusebius  invented  it,  he  had  surely  made 
it  more  beautiful  and  his  hero  less  earthly  and  more  spiritual.f 

The  wonderful  success  of  Constantino,  with  his  compara- 
tively small  force,  when  the  numerous  legions  of  which 
Maxentius  was  able  to  dispose  are  taken  into  account,  ap- 
peared to  Pagans  as  well  as  to  Christians  as  miraculous.  The 
legions  of  Maxentius  seemed  unaccountably  to  melt  before 
his  rapid  advance.  Everything  at  first  seemed  to  promise 
a  successful  resistance.  The  armies  of  Italy  far  exceeded  in 
numbers  the  invading  force;  they  were  admirably  equipped. 
There  were  several  strong  fortresses  in  the  invaders'  track, 
and,    above    all,    the    Imperial   Cit}-,   with    its    great   garrison 

*  A  sign  which,  as  j-ears  passed  on  and  he  brooded  over  it,  became  ever  more 
clear  and  distinct  till  it  assumed  the  definite  appearance  related  in  his  narrative  to 
Eusebius.  The  di-eam  is  easy  to  explain ;  his  mind  was  full  of  what  he  had  seen, 
or  thought  he  had  seen,  of  what  he  heard  from  Christian  lips  about  the  cross  and 
its  power. 

t  The  above  suggestion  contained  in  the  text,  and  in  the  note,  of  course  by  no 
means  precludes  the  possibility  of  a  miraculous  sign  having  been  seen  and  a  subse- 
quent revelation  in  the  night  vision  having  been  made  to  Coustantine.  The  fact  of 
the  conversion  of  Constantino  was  a  very  important  one,  and  tremendous  conse- 
quences to  the  votaries  of  Christianity  followed.  But  the  silence  of  Lactantius, 
and  of  Eusebius  in  his  earlier  writing,  seems  to  suggest  that  the  suggestion  above 
given  is  the  more  probable  explanation  of  the  incident.  The  sketch  of  the 
character  of  Constantino,  which  follows  in  the  text  of  our  history,  too,  supports  the 
view  above  advocated.  That  Constantino  firmly  believed  in  the  heavenly  vision 
and  in  the  command  of  the  dream  respecting  the  cross  symbol  is  certain.  The 
victory  which  followed,  and  the  splendid  success  of  his  dangerous  campaign,  in  his 
eyes  set  the  seal  of  truth  upon  it. 


GOXSTAXTINE    THE    GREAT.  459 

and  its  immemorial  prestige,  was  Maxentius'  stronghold. 
Pagan,  as  well  as  Christian,  saw  in  the  unexpected  and  rapid 
victory  of  Constantino  the  hand  of  some  supernatural  power. 
This  opinion  seems  to  have  gathered  strength  as  time  went 
on.  One  of  the  panegyrists  even  wrote  as  follows :  "  All  Gaul 
speaks  of  the  heavenly  armies  which  were  seen  in  the  skies 
in  the  last  decisive  battle,  with  their  glittering  armour  and 
flashing  weapons,  led  by  the  divine  Constantius  Chlorus 
helping  his  son  in  the  supreme  conflict." 

It  may  well  l3e  conceived  that  Constantino  himself  believed 
that  he  was  the  chosen  minister  of  God,  and  that  out  of 
gratitude  for  the  divine  help  he  devoted  himself  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Deity  who  had  taken  him  under  His  almigiity 
protection. 

The  Emperor  Constantino,  who  put  an  end  to  the  long- 
drawn  out  war  between  Christianity  and  Paganism,  who  gave 
the  blessings  of  peace  to  the  Church  and  laid  the  foundation 
stories  of  its  supremacy  in  the  world  of  Rome,  was  no  ordi- 
nary man.  Trained  in  the  hard  school  of  adversity  and 
disappointment,  he  became,  during  his  period  of  exile  from 
his  father's  Court,  a  great  and  daring  soldier  and  a  skilled 
tactician,  eventually  taking  rank  with  the  most  famous  mili- 
tary Emperors  as  a  consummate  general ;  as  a  ruler,  too,  in 
times  of  peace,  he  occupies  a  distinguished  position  His 
government  of  Gaul,  after  his  accession  to  power,  on  his  father 
Constantius  Chlorus'  death,  was  wise  and  temperate,  and  his 
praise  was  in  all  the  countries  of  the  Roman  world.  None 
of  the  vices  which  stained  the  lives  of  so  many  of  the  mighty 
Emperors  have  ever  been  attributed  to  him.  Some  critics 
have  endeavoured  to  paint  him  as  a  shrewd  opportunist  and 
to  represent  his  Christianity,  which  clearly  dates  from  the 
epoch  upon  which  we  have  been  dwelling,  a.d.  312,  as  simply 
a  matter  of  selfish  State  policy.  Others  sketch  him  as  a 
saint  of  God.  Both  these  estimates  are  probably  erroneous. 
His  devotion  to  Christianity  was  no  mere  selfish  adoption  of 
a  cult  that  would  secure  his  interests  and  further  his  am- 
bitious schemes.  According  to  his  lights  he  was  from  the 
first  a    devout  and  earnest  believer.      His    whole    subsequent 


460  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY    ANT)    PAGANISM. 

career,  his  acts,  his  sayings,  his  whole  policy,  plainly  show 
us  this.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  tirst  great  Christian 
Emperor  was  no  ideal  saint  of  God ;  no  holy  and  humble 
man  of  heart.  He  Avas,  in  the  first  instance,  as  we  have  seen, 
drawn  to  Christianity  not  by  any  of  the  deeper  feelings  of 
the  heart  towards  the  great  Sacrifice,  not  by  the  exceeding 
beauty  of  its  moral  teaching,  not  by  any  profound  sympathy 
with  a  sect  which  had  endured  persecution  and  unheard-of 
trials  for  the  faith  with  a  splendid  constancy  and  an  almost 
superhuman  endurance ;  a  sympathy  which  in  that  age  moved 
so  many  to  enthusiasm  for  Christians  and  Christianity;  but 
simply  by  a  persuasion  that  the  God  adored  by  Christians 
was  more  powerful,  more  able  and  ready  to  help  his  wor- 
shippers than  any  of  the  old  deities  worshipped  in  the  temples 
of  the  Empire.  It  was  a  sorry  motive  for  the  great  conver- 
sion which  had  such  momentous  consequences  ;  there  is  little 
trace  in  it  of  any  of  those  nobler  and  more  generous  aspira- 
tions which  run  like  a  golden  thread  through  the  life  story 
of  great  Christian  heroes.  But,  such  as  it  was,  it  was  intensely 
real,  absolutely  genuine,  and  from  the  hour  of  his  fervent 
prayer  in  the  wild,  savage  defiles  of  the  Alps,  when  he  received 
what  at  least  he  took  for  an  answer  to  his  prayer,  Constantine 
was  a  fervent  behever  in  the  doctrines  of  the  religion  of  Jesus, 
a  devoted  and  all-powerful  friend  to  the  long  persecuted  and 
harassed  sect.* 

The  end  was  come  at  last.  There  is  not  much  more  to 
be  told  in  our  account  of  the  laying  of  the  foundation  stories  of 
our  faith.  The  long  war  between  Christian  and  Pagan  which  for 
more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half  had  been  waged  so 
fiercely  by   the   Pagan,  so   quietly   but  with   such   surpassmg 

*  Boissier,  La  Jin  de  Fagaxisme,  vol.  i.,  chap,  i.-v.,  well  illustrates  this  estimate 
of  Constantine's  Christianity,  verj^  real,  even  if  based  on  somewhat  sordid  and 
earthly  motives.  Quoting  Eusebius,  Vita  Const.,  iv.  9,  he  says:  "Vers  la 
fin  de  sa  vie,  ecrivant  au  roi  de  Perse,  Sapor,  pour  lui  recommander  les  Chretiens 
repandus  dans  ses  Etats,  il  recommence  a  depeindre  les  malheurs  qui  ont  accable 
les  ennemis  de  I'Eglise,  tandis  que  lui  (Constantine),  qui  a  ouvert  les  yeux  a  la 
verite,  a  toujours  etc  hcureux,  et  qu'il  a  fait  le  bonheur  de  tous  ses  sujets.  Cet 
argument  sur  lequel  il  revient  sans  cesse,  lui  parait  irrefutable,  irresistible,  et  I'on 
voit  bien  qu'il  lui  semble  qu'il  n'est  pas  besoin  d'en  invoquer  d'autre  pour  que  le 
monde  entier  suive  son  exemplc  et  se  fasse  Chretien  comme  lui." 


GONSTANTINE    THE    GREAT.  461 

bravery  by  the  Christian,  was  virtually  over  wiien  Constantine, 
the  Christian  Emperor,  at  the  head  of  his  conquering  legions, 
rode  through  the  streets  of  Rome,  past  the  immemorial 
Forum,  still  CTlitterinof  with  its  hushed  and  almost  deserted 
temples,  to  the  proud  palace  of  the  mighty  Caesars  which 
looked  over  that  matchless  group  of  silent  historic  shrines. 
Christian  in  good  earnest  was  the  great  Gallic  Emperor, 
though  the  charm  which  had  drawn  him  to  the  strange  cross, 
emblem  tloatinsr  over  his  war-worn  legionaries,  and  gfraven 
on  their  glistening  armour,  was  one  which  the  divine  Founder 
of  Christianity  no  doubt  watched  with  a  tender,  regretful 
sorrow.  Yet,  earth-stained  thou:?h  the  motives  had  been 
which  had  made  him  a  follower  of  Jesus,  he  ivas  a  follower 
in  intense  earnest ;  and  the  late  splendid  victory  of  the 
Milvian  Bridge,  which  had  given  him  the  mighty  dominions 
of  Italy  and  Africa,  ruled  over  by  the  dead  Maxentius,  had 
set  as  it  were  the  seal  on  his  fervid  belief;  "In  hoc  signo  " 
(Crucis)  had  he  not  triumphed  ! 

Very  gently  did  the  conqueror  use  his  victory ;  little 
blood  was  shed,  the  only  victims  seem  to  have  been  the  son 
of  the  fallen  Maxentius,  and  just  a  few  of  the  chief  instru- 
ments of  the  tyranny  and  evil  rule  of  the  late  Emperor. 
Rome  rejoiced  at  the  wise  and  beneficent  measures  of  Con- 
stantine, which  at  once  relieved  the  victims  and  suti'erers  of 
the  late  shameful  tyranny ;  not  only  were  the  poor  and 
oppressed  Christians  the  object  of  the  largesse  of  the  grateful 
Emperor,  but  the  many  Pagans  who  had  been  banished, 
impoverished,  and  imprisoned  under  the  late  wicked  and 
profligate  Government  had  cause  to  bless  the  day  which 
witnessed  his  triumph.  There  was  no  ostentatious  favour 
shown  to  the  long-despised  and  often  sorely-harassed  Church 
of  Christ,  but  the  exclusive  patricians  and  haughty  senators 
were  amazed  at  meeting  at  the  table  of  the  mighty  Emperor 
poorly  dressed,  unknown  men  who  were  freely  admitted  to 
the  august  circle  of  the  Palatine — mmisters  of  the  Gospel 
distinguished,  probably,  for  their  piety  and  learning. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  Empire  a  subsidy 
was  granted  from  the  Imperial  treasury  towards  the  building 


462  EABLY    CHBJSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  churches,  and  the  historic  palace  of  the  Laterani,  Avhich  had 
been  the  Roman  residence  of  the  Empress  Fausta,  was  given 
by  Constantino  to  Mihiades,  the  bishop  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity in  Rome,  as  his  residence ;  the  permanent  home  for 
the  administration  of  the  see,  and  the  site  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian cathedral"^  of  the  ancient  metropohs  of  the  Roman  world. 
Among  the  statues  and  temples  which  an  admiring  and 
grateful  people  proceeded  to  erect  to  the  great  Emperor,  who, 
although  an  earnest  Christian,  still  maintained  with  the  title 
of  Pontifex  Maximus  the  old  Imperial  prerogative  which  con- 
stituted him  the  supreme  head  of  the  Pagan  religion  pro- 
fessed by  the  great  majority  of  the  mhabitants  of  the 
Empire,  was  that  superb  arch  of  triumph  under  which 
passed  the  old  Via  Triumphalis  leading  to  the  Via  Appia. 
On  that  magnificent  arch  the  inscription  can  still  be  read, 
though  somewhat  mutilated;  bearing  the  memorable  words 
which  tell  of  the  universal  belief  of  the  Pagan  world 
in  the  supernatural  assistance  vouchsafed  to  Constantino 
in  the  late  war  with  Maxentius.  The  inscription  runs  thus: 
"  The  Senate  and  the  Roman  people  have  dedicated  this 
Arch  of  Triumph  to  the  Emperor  Cassar  Flavins  Con- 
stantino because,  thanks  to  the  divine  inspiration  (Instinctu 
divinitatis't)  and  to  the  greatness  of  his  genius,  he  with  his 
army  has,  in  a  just  war,  avenged  the  Republic." 

*  This  was  the  oiigin  of  the  famous  Lateran  church  and  papal  palace.  The 
Laterani  were  a  wealthy  patrician  family  whose  houses  and  estates  were 
originally  confiscated  by  Nero.  The  old  family  palace  of  the  Laterani  became 
an  Imperial  residence,  and  it  was  given  by  the  Emperor  Maximian  to  his  daughter 
Fausta,  who  became,  as  we  have  seen,  the  wife  of  Constantine,  The  first  basilica 
was  built  under  Pope  Silvester  and  consecrated  a.d.  324.  It  was  rebuilt  after  an 
earthquake  by  Pope  Sergius  II.  in  a.d.  904-11,  and  then  dedicated  to  S.  John  the 
Baptist.  Sergius  II. 's  basilica  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  a.d.  1308.  It  was  again 
burnt  in  a.d.  1360,  was  rebuilt  by  Urban  V.  a.d.  1362-70,  and  has  since 
been  sadly  mutilated  bj^  subsequent  additions  and  alterations.  Along  the  west 
front  still  runs  the  proud  inscription  :  "  Sacrosancta  Lateranensis  ecclesia.  Omnium 
urbis  et  orbis  ecclesiarum  Mater  et  Caput."  The  Chapter  of  the  Lateran  still 
takes  precedence  even  over  that  of  S.  Peter's. 

+  These  words  with  their  skilfully- veiled  compromise  between  Christianity  and 
Paganism,  long  suspected  as  a  later  insertion,  have  by  modem  archaeological  investi- 
gation been  shown  to  form  part  of  the  original  inscription  put  up  by  order  of  the 
Senate. 


COXSTANTIXE    THE    GREAT.  463 

The  completeness  of  the  victory  of  Constantine  and  the 
consequent  incorporation  of  the  territories  of  Maxentius  (Italy 
and  North  Africa)  with  the  vast  Western  Empire  of  the  conqueror, 
gave  Constantine  such  an  overwhelming  preponderance  in  the 
Roman  world,  that  the  persecutor,  Maximin  Daia,  on  receipt  of  a 
peremptory  letter  from  the  Court  of  Constantine,  deemed  it 
expedient  to  stay  the  persecution  Avhich  for  so  many  weary  years 
had  harassed  the  Eastern  Provinces.  We  have  in  Eusebius  a 
copy  of  the  decree  which  Maximin  Daia  issued.  It  was  an 
untruthful  and  hypocritical  document,  but  it  directed  that  if  any 
should  wish  to  follow  their  own  worship  (alluding  to  his  Chris- 
tian subjects)  these  should  be  suffered  to  do  so.  This  concession 
was,  however,  only  granted  through  fear  of  Constantine.  The 
real  sentiments  of  Maximin  Daia  Avere  manifested  shortly,  as 
we  shall  present^  notice. 

Early  in  a.d.  313  Constantme  came  to  Milan,  where  he  had 
arranged  to  meet  the  Emperor  Licinius,  whose  dominions 
extended  over  the  Eastern  Provinces  of  Europe.  The  marriage 
of  his  sister,  Constantia,  with  Licinius,  which  had  been  previously 
arranged,  was  to  be  celebrated  there  with  much  ceremony. 
During  the  late  war  Licinius  had  maintained  a  position  of  friendly 
neutrality  towards  Constantine,  and  the  relations  between  the 
two  Emperors  now  became  closer. 

The   famous    Edict   of  Milan,  which   was   put   out   in   the 
earlier   months   of  this  memorable   3'ear,  ran  in  the  names  of  /  P     >  / 
the  two  allied  Emperors.     The  edict  was  more  than  a  simple 
Imperial  proclamation  according  a  general  amnesty  to  the  per- 
secuted Christians ;  it  was  more  than  a  mere  edict  of  toleration ; 
it  was  intended  to  be,  and  indeed  was   generally  received   as 
a  manifesto  of  the  Imperial  clemency   in  favour   of  the  long 
proscribed  religion,  which  had  been  accepted  as  the  true  cult 
by  the  all-powerful  Emperor  Constantine.     It  certainly  left  to 
all  the  citizens  of  the  Empire  the  free  choice  to  follow  that  mode 
of    worship   which   they   might   wish,   but    that   was    no   new 
permission.     The  only  form  of  worship  forbidden  during  the  two 
hundred  and  eighty  years  which  preceded  the  putting  out  of  the     ' 
Edict  of  Milan  Avas  the  Christian,  and  that  was  now  especially,     i 
and  with  much  detail  and  em  jhasis    ironounced  to  be  lawful. 


464  EARLY    GHBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

But  more  than  this  was  contained  in  the  Milan  Edict.  The 
second  part  of  the  Imperial  Law  provided  for  the  restoration  to 
the  Christians  of  all  the  property  confiscated  in  the  days  of  perse- 
cution. Everything  was  to  be  given  back  ;  even  lands  and  goods 
which  had  since  changed  hands  by  purchase,  were  to  be  restored 
summarily  to  the  original  Christian  possessor,  the  State  reserving 
to  itself  the  poAver,  if  it  thought  fit,  of  indemnifying  those  persons 
who  had  thus  to  make  restitution.  In  addition,  all  the  public 
places  where  Christians  used  to  meet  for  worship  and  assembly 
(cemeteries  were  here  specially  alluded  to),  which  had  been  taken 
from  them  by  the  Government,  were  at  once  to  be  freely  restored 
and  that  without  delay ;  thus  tacitly,  but  emphatically,  con- 
demning the  whole  public  procedure  followed  in  the  days  of  the 
late  persecution. 

Nothmg  could  be  more  complete,  more  far-reaching,  more 
favourable  to  the  Christians  than  the  provisions  of  the  edict. 
And  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  Imperial  Law  ran 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  Empire  in  Europe  and  Africa, 
stretching  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  of  Western  Gaul  to  the 
coasts  of  the  Euxine  and  the  Danube  frontier,  and  from  Northern 
Britain  to  the  Mediterranean-washed  provinces  of  Spain,  South 
Gaul  and  Italy,  and  southwards  over  North  Africa.  Of  this 
enormous  realm  by  far  the  greater  part  acknowledged  the  rule 
of  Constantino. 

The  wording  of  certain  portions  of  the  edict  is  curious,  and 
deserves  a  little  examination.  It  is  undoubtedly  a  Christian 
document,  inspired  by  a  Christian,  and  put  out,  as  we  have 
noticed  above,  mainly  in  the  interest  of  Christians.  They  alone 
are  named  in  it,  and  in  one  striking  passage  the  general  toleration 
to  be  enjoyed  by  different  forms  of  religion  is  based  upon  the 
toleration  accorded  to  Christianity.  But  one  clause  has  a  strange 
semi-Pagan  colour.  After  giving  to  all  the  free  choice  to  follow 
that  mode  of  worship  which  they  may  wish,  it  adds  that  this 
promise  was  given  in  order  that  "  Whatsoever  Divinity  and 
celestial  power  may  exist  might  be  propitious  to  us,  and  to  all 
that  live  under  our  Government."  The  thought  that  underlies 
these  words  would  seem  to  be  :  If,  as  is  possible,  any  power  belong 
to  the  old  gods,  it  is  well,  by  allowing  men,  if  they  please,  to 


CONSTA^'^TINE    TEE    GREAT.  465 

worship  tliem,  that  the  gods  in  question  should  be  propitiated 
by  such  worship.  This  suggests  that  the  edict,  so  strongly  in 
favour  of  Christianity  was  not  avowedly  drafted  by  a  Christian ; 
although,  no  doubt,  in  the  main  it  was  dictated,  or  at  least 
inspired,  by  Constantino  himself,  who  we  know  after  his  formal 
adhesion  to  Christianity  as  Emperor  of  a  still  Pagan  Empire, 
continued  to  be  the  official  head,  as  Pontifex  Maximus,  of  the  old 
rehgion."^ 

The  proceedings  at  Milan  in  the  spring  of  a.d.  313,  for 
ever  memorable  on  account  of  the  edict  which  established 
Christianity  as  a  legal  religion,  and  which  signijfied  to  the 
Roman  world  that  the  great  Emperor  had  thrown  in  his  lot 
with  the  long  despised  and  outlawed  sect,  were  rudely  inter- 
rupted by  mtelligence  which  summoned  the  allied  Emperors 
Constantino  and  Licinius  to  take  the  field.  A  raid  of  Frankish 
tribes  in  the  Rhineland  called  for  Constantine's  presence  once 
more  at  the  head  of  his  legions  on  the  disturbed  frontier, 
while  a  most  dangerous  civil  war  impending  required  Licinius 
in  Eastern  Europe  to  defend  his  dominions  against  the  sudden 
invasion  of  Maximin  Daia,  who,  with  a  powerful  army, 
threatened  the  very  existence  of  his  Empire. 

Maximin  Daia,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  bigoted  Pagan,  and 
it  is  probable  that  the  late  events  had  roused  the  Pagan  party 
to  strike  this  blow  in  the  hope  of  destroying,  or,  at  least,  of 
weakening,  the  powerful  Christian  influences  which  bade  fair 
to  undermine  the  old  religion.  It  was  well-nigh  the  last 
serious  effort  of  Paganism.  At  first  the  arms  of  Maximin  Daia 
were  successful,  and  the  city  of  Byzantium  was  invested  and 
captured ;  but  the  victorious  march  was  interrupted  by  the 
rapid  advance  of  Licinius,  by  whose  military  skill  the  forces 
of  the  invader,  although  superior  in  nmnbers,  were  completely 
routed  in  a  pitched  battle  near  Heraclea.  Maximin  Daia  fled, 
and,  returning  to  his  capital,  Nicomedia,  a  beaten  and  dis- 
graced Sovereign,  died  a  few  months  after  by  his  own  hand. 
He  perished  apparently  unregretted ;  the  civil  war  in  the 
East  was   over ;    and   without  further  resistance  Licinius  was 

*  See    Boissier,  Mviie  des   Dcx.v  Mondes.     August,  1887,  p.  528,    and   La  fn 
du,  Paganisme,  Vol.  I.,  Chap.  II.,  11  (1898). 
E  E 


466  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

acknowledged  Emperor  of  the  East.  Thus,  before  the  year  313 
had  run  its  course,  the  provisions  of  the  Edict  of  Milan,  which 
assured  peace  and  protection  to  the  Christians,  were  received 
as  the  Imperial  law  without  further  opposition  throughout  the 
whole  Roman  world. 


SECTION    III. — AFTER    THE    EDICT    OF    MILAN. 

It  was  a  strange  experience  for  the  Christian  subjects  of 
the  Empire  to  find  themselves  not  merely  tolerated  but  even 
favoured  The  open  profession  of  belief  by  Constantine  placed 
the  long  persecuted  religion  in  a  new  light,  and  it  is  not  difficult 
to  conceive  that  vast  numbers  of  all  classes,  under  these  new 
circumstances  gradually  joined  the  Christian  communities. 
Licinius,  the  fellow  Emperor  of  Constantine,  it  is  true,  was  no 
real  friend  of  Christianity ;  but  the  power  and  influence  of  the 
great  Western  Emperor  from  a.d.  313  to  a.d.  321  ensured  the 
freedom  of  Christian  worship  in  the  East  where  Licinius  was 
supreme.  A  dispute  and  a  short  war  between  the  two  Em- 
perors in  A.D.  314,  which  ended  in  victory  for  the  armies  of 
Constantine,  placed  well-nigh  all  the  provinces  of  Eastern 
Europe  under  the  Western  Sovereign. 

In  these  years  must  be  placed  the  foundation  and,  in  some 
instances,  the  completion  of  not  a  few  of  the  proud  basihcas  of 
the  Constantinian  period,  notably  the  great  churches  of  S.  Peter 
on  the  Vatican,  of  S.  Paul  on  the  Ostian  Way,  of  S.  Laurence, 
of  St.  Agnes,  and  of  the  basilica  and  palace  of  the  Bishops  of 
Rome  in  the  Lateran  Gardens.  These  were  in  Rome ;  but  in 
numberless  cities  of  the  Empire  in  these  years  churches  were 
erected,  some  of  great  magnificence  and  splendidly  adorned. 
Among  these  the  basilica  of  Tyre  is  memorable  owing  to  the 
detailed  picture  of  this  lordly  fane  contained  in  the  inaugural 
discourse  pronounced  at  Tyre  by  Eusebius  {H.  E.,  x.  4). 
That  such  a  magnificent  building  should  arise  in  a  city  which 
had  so  lately  taken  the  lead  on  the  side  of  Paganism  in  the 
last  days  of  the  persecutions  of  Maximin  Daia  illustrates  the 
power  and  opulence  of  the  Christian  party.  "  Nor  would  the 
Christian  orator  venture  greatly  to  exaggerate  the  splendour  of 


GONSTANTINE    THE    GREAT.  467 

a  building  which  stood  in  the  midst  of  and  provoked,  as  it 
were,  a  comparison  with  temples  ot'  high  antiquity  and 
unquestioned  magnificence."^  The  basiHca  of  Tyre  was  only 
one  among  the  many  stately  churches  which  arose  in  these 
early  years  of  the  peace  of  the  Church,  in  Rome  and  in  the 
chief  cities  of  the  Empire.  And  the  student,  as  he  reads  the 
great  historian's  description  of  the  Tyre  basilica,  evidently  of 
vast  proportions,  with  its  rich  sculptures,  its  roofs  of  cedar,  its 
pavements  of  inlaid  marbles,  its  arrangements  for  carefully 
ordered  services,  is  amazed  at  the  latent  power  and  resources 
of  the  Christian  sect,  which  only  needed  a  few  years  of  assured 
peace  and  Imperial  favour  to  create  such  mighty  worlvs  and 
to  develop  a  I'itual  so  stately  and  so  elaborate. 

It  has  been  sorrowfully  remarked  that  while  Constantine 
could  give  protection,  he  could  not  give  peace  to  Christianity 
and  its  inner  life.  Very  early  in  its  days  of  unlocked  for 
prosperity  the  Church  was  rent  with  internal  dissensions. 
These  first  quarrels,  to  us  who  look  back  through  the  long 
waste  of  centuries,  seem  to  have  sprung  from  seemingly  un- 
important causes.  The  old  questions  respecting  the  different 
degrees  of  guilt  incurred  by  the  "Lapsi,"  or  those  who  had 
fallen  away  in  the  late  persecution,  were  fiercely  agitated, 
especially  in  the  provinces  of  North  Africa,  ever  a  fruitful 
soil  for  these  sad  disputes.  The  validity  of  the  election  of 
Csecilian,  Bishop  of  Carthage,  was  called  in  question  by  a  group 
of  Numidian  prelates,  who  alleged  that  he  had  been  unlaw- 
fully consecrated  by  a  certain  Felix,  Bishop  of  Aptunga,  who, 
they  said,  had  been  a  "  traditor  " — one  who,  under  pressure, 
had  given  up  to  the  Pagans  the  sacred  books.  The  malcontents 
appealed  to  the  civil  power,  and  the  Emperor  relegated  the 
cause  to  a  council  held  at  the  Lateran  under  Miltiades,  the 
Bishop  of  Rome.  The  Lateran  Council  decided  in  favour  of 
Csecihan.  The  African  malcontents  were  not  satisfied.  And, 
as  a  consequence,  a  rival  bishop  was  set  up  in  Carthage.  Con- 
stantine, in  the  hope  of  avoiding  a  permanent  schism  in  the 
North  African  provinces,  summoned  a  council  from  all  parts 

*  See  Dean  Milman,  Ristory  of  Christianity,  Book  II.,  Chap.  IX.  ;  and 
Eusebius,  S.  E.,  x. 


468  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  the  West  to  meet  at  Aries  in  Gaul.  This  Aries  Council, 
which  met  in  the  year  314,  was  the  greatest  ecclesiastical 
assembly  that  had  been  known,  numbering  as  it  did  over 
two  hundred  bishops*  Pope  Silvester,  who  had  succeeded 
Miltiades  as  Bishop  of  Rome,  was  represented  at  Aries  by 
two  priests  and  two  deacons.  Again  the  decision  was  in  favour 
of  the  legahty  of  the  consecration  of  Ca3cilian.  The  details 
of  this  long  drawn  out  and  dangerous  controversy  do  not 
belong  to  the  scheme  of  our  history.  But  some  of  the  canons 
passed  at  Aries  must  be  briefly  noticed,  as  they  throw  con- 
siderable light  on  the  connection  of  the  fast-growing  Chris- 
tianity with  civil  society  in  the  reign  of  Constantino  at  this 
period,  a.d.  314.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  canons 
forbade,  under  pain  of  excommunication,  any  Christian  to  take 
part  as  an  actor  in  any  of  the  public  games  so  popular  among 
the  people,  particularising  the  parts  of  charioteer  or  comedian. 
Another  canon  of  a  different  complexion  supported  with  the 
weight  of  the  Catholic  Church,  the  duty  of  Christians  towards 
the  State  by  pronouncing  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
upon  any  Christian  soldier  who  should,  through  any  mistaken 
conscientious  scruple,t  decline  to  perform  his  military  duties. 

The  influence  of  the  Christian  bishops  and  others  among 
the  leadinof  men  at  the  Court  of  Constantine  during  the  ten 
years  of  which  we  are  speaking,  a.d.  313-23,  was  very  marked. 
Some  forty  years  later,  in  the  brief  Pagan  reaction,  the  Emperor 
Julian  bitterly  notices  this,  commenting  upon  Constantine  as 

*  The  decision  of  this  important  council  was  again  questioned,  and  Con- 
stantine agreed  to  hear  in  person  the  opposing  parties  at  Milan,  a.d.  316,  where 
he  upheld  the  decisions  of  Eome  and  Aries.  The  schismatics,  who  were  styled 
*'  Donatists,"  after  the  anti-Bishop  of  Carthage,  Donatus  the  C4reat,  who  had 
been  elected  by  the  dissidents  in  the  room  of  Ca-cilian,  still  declined  to  submit 
to  the  "  Catholic  "  part}^,  who  maintained  the  validity  of  the  election  of  Cfficilian 
as  Bishop  of  Carthage  in  accordance  with  the  decisions  at  Eome,  Aries,  and 
Milan.  The  Donatist  schism  long  divided  the  Church  of  North  Africa.  These 
Donatists  were  a  powerful  and  verj'  numerous  sect  of  Dissenters,  including  in 
theu-  ranks  at  one  time,  it  is  said,  as  many  as  four  hundred  bishops !  They  pro- 
fessed, as  other  sectaries  had  done  before  them,  an  extreme  austerity,  and 
maintained  that  the  true  Church  existed  only  in  their  communion. 

f  It  will  be  remembered  that  about  a  century  before  this  question  had  been 
argued  by  the  eminent  teacher  Tertullian,  who  taught  that  a  soldier,  if  a  Christian, 
was  justified  in  certain  acts  of  insubordination. 


GONSTANTINE    THE    GREAT.  469 

an  innovator,  as  one  who  disturbed  the  ancient  laws  and 
upset  the  old  customs.'^ 

Amongst  the  new  remarkable  laws  which  were  promul- 
gated in  the  Empire  in  these  years  and  which  were  directly 
attributable  to  Christian  influences  was  the  rescript  directing 
the  celebration  of  the  Christian  Sabbath ;  it  was  cautiously 
worded,  and  bore  no  special  allusion  to  the  peculiar  sanctity 
of  the  day  in  the  eyes  of  the  Christian  communities.  Out 
of  deference,  no  doubt,  to  the  votaries  of  the  ancient  religion, 
it  was  termed  "  the  day  of  the  Sun,"  but  it  was  to  be  gener- 
ally observed,  the  law  courts  were  to  be  closed,  and  the  noise 
and  bustle  of  public  business  were  no  longer  to  disturb  the 
repose  of  the  holy  day.  The  only  legal  work  that  might  be 
transacted  was  that  connected  with  the  manumission  of  slaves, 
a  strange  exception,  and  one  undoubtedly  due  to  the  new 
spirit  which  was  brooding  over  the  Imperial  chancery,  which 
at  this  time  issued  various  laws  bearing  on  the  relief  of  the 
great  slave  class.  Other  ordinances  were  put  forth  under 
the  same  Christian  inspiration,  such  as  the  abrogation  of  the 
laws  inimical  to  celibacy.  Laws,  too,  dealing  with  immorality 
were  passed.  The  punishment  of  crucifixion  was  significantly 
abolished.  One  most  important  concession  appears  at  this 
time,  giving  the  Church  the  fullest  power  to  receive  the 
bequests  of  the  pious,  an  ordinance  which  had  far-reaching 
consequences  in  after  ages. 

But,  although  the  Emperor  had  accepted  the  groundwork 
of  the  Christian  revelation,  and  had  evidently  resolved,  as  far 
as  his  conception  of  imperative  duties  imposed  upon  him  as 
Emperor  allowed,  quietly  to  assist  and  promote  the  interests 
of  the  religion  which  he  believed  to  be  true,  he  resisted  any 
attempt  made  by  the  more  favoured  sect  to  obtain  through 
their  religion  any  undue  rights  or  privileges  which,  if  acknow- 
ledged, might  be  inimical  to  the  interests  of  the  State.  The 
ecclesiastical  order  had  obtained,  through  the  Imperial  favour, 
an  exemption  from  the  necessity  of  serving  in  any  of  the 
burdensome  and  costly  offices  belonging  to  the  municipalities ; 
offices  which   at   this   time   were   disliked  and,  when  possible, 

*  See  Ainraianus  Marcelliniis,  xxi.  10. 


470  EARLY   CEBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

avoided,  on  the  just  plea  that  the  duties  attendant  on  such 
offices  were  incompatible  with  their  religious  obligations.  To 
secure  their  exemption  from  a  hated  duty  many  entered  the 
clerical  order.  To  remedy  this  manifest  abuse  of  a  privilege, 
Consiantine  decreed  that  none  were  to  be  admitted  into  the 
sacred  order  except  on  the  vacancy  of  a  religious  charge,  and 
then  only  those  whose  want  of  fortune  exempted  them  from 
these  costly  municipal  functions.* 

The  position  of  Constantine  in  these  early  years  which 
succeeded  the  famous  Edict  of  Milan  was  a  somewhat  strange 
one.  He  was  a  Christian  not  merely  in  name,  but,  as  we 
have  insisted,  was  really  persuaded  of  the  truth  of  the 
great  Christian  doctrines.  But,  at  the  same  time,  he  was 
the  supreme  head  of  the  Pagan  religion  of  the  Empire,  which 
certainly  for  some  years  after  a.d.  313  was  still  professed  by 
the  majority  of  his  subjects.  Constantine  never  seems  to  have 
laid  aside  the  Imperial  rank  of  Pontifex  Maximus,  or  to  have 
dispensed  with  the  ancient  Pagan  titles  upon  his  medals  and 
coins.  His  apologists,  with  some  justice,  plead  that  it  was 
his  desire  to  maintain  the  public  peace  and  tranquillity,  which 
induced  him  to  preserve  these  official  ensigns  of  power  over 
what  was  still  the  State  religion.  He  was  thus  possessed  of 
the  supreme  authority  in  both  religions.  Invested  as  he  was 
with  the  right  of  superintending  the  ancient  Pagan  cult,  he 
was  enabled  to  restrict  it  in  various  ways,  and  gradually, 
without  using  any  violent  measures,  to  separate  it  from  the 
ordinary  social  life  of  the  citizens  of  the  Empire,  while  it 
continued  for  a  while  to  be  the  official  worship.  As  early  as 
A.D.  313,  the  year  of  the  proclamation  of  the  Edict  of  Milan, 
he  declined  to  sanction  the  celebration  of  the  secular  games, 
the   chief  Pagan  festival,  and   in  the  year   319   we   find  him 

*  The  Uecurions  formed  the  Senates  of  the  towns ;  they  supplied  the  magis- 
trates from  their  body,  and  had  the  right  of  electing  them  ;  under  the  regulations 
introduced  by  Diocletian  the  Decurions  were  made  responsible  for  the  full  amount 
of  taxation  imposed  by  the  Imperial  assessment  on  the  town  and  district.  As  the 
payments  grew  more  burthensome  many  became  insolvent  and  fled  the  district, 
but  the  whole  revenue  was  still  exacted  from  the  Decurions ;  hence  the  once 
coveted  office  became  a  severe  and  hated  burthen.  See  Milman,  Sistory  of 
Christianity,  Book  III.,  Cliap.  II. 


CONSTANTINE    TEE    GREAT.  471 

forbidding  all  private  sacrificial  ceremonies.  The  public  and 
official  rites  seem  to  have  been  continued,  but  they  were  by 
degrees  shorn  of  theu*  ancient  pomp  and  distinction  as  the 
coldness  and  dislike  of  the  Emperor  became  more  and  more 
manifest  and  apparent.  The  rapid  decay  of  Paganism  was 
witnessed  with  apprehension  and  dismay  by  the  more  earnest 
of  the  still  very  numerous  party  who,  for  various  reasons, 
adhered  to  the  old  Roman  cult. 

In  the  year  323  a  civil  war  broke  out  between  the  two 
Emperors,  Constantino  and  Licinius.  The  Eastern  Emperor, 
under  the  dominant  influence  of  his  greater  colleague,  had 
signed  the  Edict  of  j\Iilan ;  but  it  seems  that  Licinius  never 
really  favoured  Christianity,  and  it  was  only  with  a  half- 
hearted toleration  that  he  suffered  the  worshippers  of  the 
Crucified  openly  to  practise  their  religion  in  his  Eastern 
dominions.  It  was  to  Licinius  that  the  hopes  of  the  Pagan 
party  in  the  Empire  turned  when  the  rapid  decay  of  their 
religion  alarmed  and  disturbed  them. 

We  have  seen  how  in  a.d.  314  discord  between  the  two 
Emperors,  in  spite  of  the  matrimonial  connection — Licinius, 
it  will  be  remembered,  had  married  Constantino's  half-sister, 
Constantia — precipitated  a  bitter  civil  war.  This  war  ended  in 
favour  of  Constantino,  and  the  terms  of  peace  included  the 
cession  to  Constantino  of  the  larger  portion  of  the  European 
dominions  of  Licinius.  A  hollow  and  uncertain  peace  which 
lasted  some  nine  years  from  a.d.  314  to  a.d.  323  succeeded. 
But  the  marked  favour  and  encouragement  showed  by  Con- 
stantino to  Christians  was  viewed  by  his  Eastern  colleague 
with  dislike  and  dread.  Gradually  the  aversion  of  Licinius 
to  Christianity  was  more  and  more  openly  manifested.  Synods 
of  clergy  were  at  first  forbidden,  insulting  decrees  to  Christian 
bishops  were  issued ;  in  some  of  his  provinces,  in  direct 
contravention  of  the  Edict  of  Milan,  Christian  churches  were 
closed,  and  at  length  a  partial  persecution  was  sanctioned. 
It  was  a  final  effort  of  Paganism  to  assert  itself  against  the 
fast  growing  Christianity  of  the  Empire.  Once  more  a  bitter 
civil  war  between  the  East  and  West  blazed  forth,  which 
assumed   the   aspect   of    a   contest    of    rehgions.      Again    the 


472  EARLY    CHBI8TIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

superior  genius  of  Constantine,  and  probably  his  better-equipped 
and  disciplined  legions,  enabled  him,  after  a  short  struggle, 
to  vanquish  his  adversary.  The  campaign  was  soon  con- 
cluded by  a  naval  victory  and  by  the  yet  more  decisive 
battle  of  Hadrianople,  in  which  Licinius  suffered  a  complete 
defeat. 

The  death  of  Licinius  which  quickly  followed  left  Con- 
stantine sole  master  of  the  East  and  West.  The  first  act  of 
the  conqueror  was  at  once  to  withdraw  the  recently  pro- 
mulgated anti-Christian  edicts  of  the  late  Emperor  of  the 
East,  and  to  grant  to  the  Eastern  followers  of  the  Crucified 
all  the  privileges  which  his  Christian  subjects  in  the  West 
had  been  long  enjoying.  The  year  323  -vvitnessed  what  was 
virtually  the  close  of  the  long  drawn  out  struggle  between 
Christianity  and  Paganism. 


473 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

FROM    PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY. 
SECTION   I. — THE   CHANGE. 

The  tremendous  issues  of  the  change  which  had  passed 
over  the  fortunes  of  the  Christian  religion  after  a.d.  313, 
the  date  of  the  Milan  Edict,  were  probably  foreseen  by  few 
at  the  time. 

Indeed,  the  gradual  progress  of  events  had  somewhat 
accustomed  men's  minds  to  the  altered  position  of  things. 
We  wiU  very  briefly  recount  the  principal  steps  which  led 
up  to  the  new  platform  upon  which  Christianity  found  itself 
in  a.d.  323  and  in  the  years  immediately  following,  a  platform 
from  which  it  never  had  to  recede.  First,  the  abdication  of 
Diocletian  in  a.d.  305,  and  the  readjustment  of  the  Imperial 
Government,  put  a  stop  to  all  active  persecution  throughout 
most  of  the  Western  provinces.  Second,  the  Edict  of  Tolera- 
tion issued  by  the  dying  Galerius  in  a.d.  311  gave  a  new 
aspect  to  the  position  of  Christianity  in  the  East ;  and, 
although  its  merciful  provisions  were  temporarily  set  aside 
by  Maximm  Daia,  persecution  was  generally  looked  on  hence- 
forth as  a  something  absolutely  alien  to  the  universal  policy 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  Third,  the  victorious  campaign  of 
Constantine  under  the  banner  of  the  cross,  and  the  conse- 
quent union  of  the  Western  Empire  under  his  sceptre,  followed 
by  the  Edict  of  Milan,  formally  gave  the  Christian  a  legal 
status  throughout  the  Empire.  The  ten  years  of  Imperial 
favour  which  followed  the  edict  witnessed  an  enormous 
increase  in  the  numbers  of  the  hitherto  persecuted  sect. 
Fourth,  the  efforts  of  the  Pagan  party  in  the  East  to  regain 
its  lost  ground   were   completely   defeated    by   the   overthrow 


474  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

and  death  of  Licinius  in  a.d.  323  and  the  peaceable  succession 
of  the  Emperor  Constantine  to  the  Eastern  throne;  the 
whole  Eoman  world  being  thus  united  under  the  undisputed 
rule  of  a  Christian  Sovereign. 

These  great  events  had  followed  one  another  during  the 
eighteen  years  which  had  elapsed  since  the  abdication  of 
Diocletian,  and,  although  to  all  outward  appearance  the  world 
was  still  Pagan,  though  "  every  city  seemed  still  to  repose 
under  the  tutelary  gods  of  the  ancient  religion  .  .  .  the 
silent  courts  of  the  Pagan  fanes  were  untrodden  but  by  a  few 
casual  worshippers,  the  altars  were  without  victims;  thin 
wreaths  of  smoke  rose  where  the  air  used  to  be  clouded 
with  the  reek  of  hecatombs,  the  priesthood  murmuring  in 
bitter  envy  at  the  throng  which  passed  by  the  porticoes  of 
their  temples  towards  the  Christian  Church."* 

As  regards  many  of  the  great  nobles  of  the  Empire,  those 
who  were  more  closely  associated  with  the  Emperor  generally 
adopted  the  rehgion  of  the  Sovereign  and  of  the  Court;  but 
for  a  lengthened  period  very  many  of  the  patrician  houses, 
and  not  a  few  among  the  cultured  classes,  haughtily  stood 
aloof  from  the  religion  which  in  so  marvellous  a  way  had 
stirred  the  hearts  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  Empire.  In 
the  writings  of  the  Pagans  of  the  last  half  of  the  fourth 
century,  a  strange  silence  is  observable  respecting  the  undreamed 
of  progress  of  the  sect — a  curious  reticence  on  all  the  circum- 
stances attendant  on  the  tremendous  victory  of  Christianity 
which  that  century  had  witnessed.  We  search,  but  search 
in  vain,  for  detailed  mentions  of  what  must  have  been 
uppermost  in  the  hearts  of  these  passionate  lovers  of  the 
storied  past  of  Kome  in  the  well-known  and  serious  writings 
of  the  period.  The  letters  of  Symmachus,  the  proud  and 
wealthy  patrician,  in  which  the  life  of  the  nobles  of  Rome 
is  so  vividly  and  picturesquely  depicted,  are  silent.  So 
are  the  writings  of  Macrobius  and  the  histories  of  Aurelius 
Victor  and  Eutropius,  who  do  not  even  deign  to  mention 
an  event  so  striking  as  the  conversion  of  Constantine.  This 
almost   universal   silence  is,   however,   broken    in   the   curious 

*  Milman,  Hist,  of  Chrisiiaitity,  Book  III.,  Chapter  III. 


FROM  PAGANISM    TO    GHBISTIANITY.  475 

Latin  translation  of  the  dialogue  of  Asclepius  put  out  about 
the  middle  of  this  fourth  century.  Here  the  increasing  cult 
of  Christian  martyrs  is  bitterly  inveighed  against,  and  the 
writer  dwells  with  mournful  eloquence  on  the  fate  of  the 
ancient  land  of  Egj^pt,  deprived  of  her  immemorial  deities. 
"  Oh,  Egypt !  Egypt ! "  he  cries  "  nought  remains  of  thy 
beliefs  but  confused  echoes  and  a  few  inscriptions  which  may 
bear  witness  to  coming  generations  of  thy  ancient  piety. 
The  gods  who  once  dwelt  with  thee  have  gone  back  again 
into  Heaven."* 

The  prevalent  silence  was  again  broken  a  little  later  by 
RutiHus  Namatianus,  a  Gallic  gentleman  of  high  position, 
who  very  early  in  the  fifth  century  filled  distinguished  offices 
at  Rome,  and  became  a  senator.  His  words  may  fairly  be 
taken  as  voicing  the  extreme  dislike,  even  hatred,  with  which 
very  many  of  the  highest  class  viewed  the  rapid  advance  of 
Christianity.  His  undisguised  opinions  appear  in  a  graceful 
little  poem  descriptive  of  a  sea  trip  from  Rome  (Ostia  probabty) 
to  South  Gaul.  He  comes  across  a  Jew — not  a  loved  race 
by  any  means ;  but  his  great  objection  to  the  Jew  is  based 
upon  the  fact  that  Christianity  sprang  from  a  Jewish  root — 
"  radix  stultitiae "  as  he  sorrowfully  terms  it.  Sailing  by  the 
Isle  of  Capraria,  at  that  time  (circa  A.D.  416)  largely  peopled — 
dishonoured,  as  he  terms  it — with  Christian  monks,  he 
writes,  "squalet  lucifugis  insula  plena  viris."  Very  bitterly 
he  inveighs  against  these  people,  the  monks,  who  avoid,  as 
he  thinks,  the  light  of  day.  Is  there  any  sense,  he  asks,  in 
living  a  wretched  life  simply  for  fear  of  becoming  unhappy  ? 
A  little  later  he  meets  with  another  company  of  Christian 
solitaries,  among  whom  he  finds  a  wealthy  and  well-born  man, 
who  has  thrown  up  his  duties  as  a  citizen,  who  has  forsaken 
friends,  family  and  wife,  in  order  to  bury  himself  alive  in  the 
sepulchres.  The  miserable  man,  so  writes  Rutilius,  "  dreams 
that  Heaven  is  pleased  with  the  sight  of  these  unclean  beings. 
They  loved  to  torture  themselves ;  they  are  more  cruel  even 
than  the  offended  gods  !  I  ask  the  question :  has  not  this 
sect  (the  Christian)    the  secret   of  poisons  more  deadly   than 

*  Augustine  specially  quotes  this  passage,  Be  Civitate  Dei,  ^•iii.  23. 


476  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

any  possessed  by  Circe  ? — for  Circe  only  brought  about  a 
change  in  the  body;  these  people  change  the  very  soul." 
Kutilius  detested  and  loathed  monasticism  ;  but  his  contemp- 
tuous scorn  for  it  is  derived  from  his  intense  hatred  of 
Christianity.  To  him  it  is  only  a  natural  outcome  of  a 
religion  which  debased  the  soul. 

Among  the  class  of  noble,  wealthy  Romans  in  the  provinces 
as  in  Italy,  but  especially  in  the  great  metropolis.  Paganism  died 
very  slowly.  These  haughty  descendants  of  the  ancient 
patrician  houses,  and  those  who  in  the  provinces  recruited 
their  ranks,  as  well  as  the  rhetorician,  the  panegyrist,  the 
poet,  the  historian,  viewed  the  strange  triumph-march  of 
the  Christians,  which  began  in  real  earnest  in  a.d.  313,  the 
date  of  the  Milan  Edict,  with  a  shuddering  disdain;  they 
watched  with  a  sorrow  which  refused  to  be  comforted  the 
ever-growing  neglect  of  all  the  stately  immemorial  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  an  historic  Paganism ;  they  saw  with  deep 
murmuring  the  contempt  into  which  the  ancient  gods  of 
Rome  and  the  Empire  had  fallen.  And  in  the  room  of 
those  gods  who,  as  the  translator  of  the  "  Dialogue  of  Asclepius," 
above  referred  to  has  it,  had  winged  their  flight  away  in  grief 
from  earth  to  Heaven,  men  had  substituted  a  strange  un- 
natural faith  in  "the  Crucified" — a  faith  which  their  wiser 
and  more  far-sighted  ancestors  had  pronounced  unlawful, 
had  condemned  as  the  "  exitiabilis  superstitio "  of  Tacitus, 
as  the  "  superstitio  prava  et  immodica "  of  Phny ;  a  "  super- 
stitio" they  had  never  deigned,  however,  to  examine. 

But  for  them  the  end^  was  soon  to  come,  when  their 
beliefs  were  to  be  swept  away  for  ever  in  the  wild  torrent  of 
barbarian  invasion,  while  the  Ark  of  the  Church,  which  they 
hated  and  despised,  floated  safe  and  unharmed  on  the  awful 
flood.      The   Pagan   cult  they   loved    and   admired    is    only  a 

*  How  near  the  end  was  for  the  society  in  the  midst  of  which  these  men  of 
whom  we  are  writing  lived  (it  will  be  remembered  that  we  have  been  speaking  of 
the  last  few  decades  of  the  fourth  centiiry),  the  following  dry  but  pregnant  dates 
show:  A.D.  410— Alaric  the  Goth  sacks  and  bums  Rome;  a.d.  455— Genseric 
the  Vandal  again  sacks  and  makes  havoc  of  Some;  a.d.  476 — Odoacer,  the 
Herule  Chieftain,  occupies  Eome,  sweeping  away  the  last  remnant  of  Imperial 
majesty. 


Photo  :   Alinari  &  Cook.  Rome. 

THE     TEMPLE     OF     CASTOR     AND     POLLUX. 
With  the  Forum,  looking  towards  the  Caiiitol. 


FROM  PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY.  4^77 

memory  surviving  among  a  handful  of  curious  scholars.  The 
Chm'ch,  though  fifteen  hundred  more  changing  and  change- 
ful years  have  since  come  and  gone,  is  with  us  still,  the 
greatest  and  most  enduring  power  in  the  world. 

But  what  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  population  of  the 
Empire  ?  What  of  the  masses  of  the  people  ?  What  of 
the  many  millions  who  were  not  of  senatorial  rank,  who 
possessed  no  palaces  in  the  fashionable  quarters  of  Rome, 
or  Carthage,  or  Antioch,  or  Milan,  or  Lyons,  who 
owned  no  villas  in  the  hills  round  Rome  or  on  the  shores 
of  the  charmed  Italian  and  Sicilian  seas — who  Avere  neither 
rhetoricians  nor  poets,  philosophers  nor  historians — the  millions 
who  could  not  be  described  as  cultured — what  of  all  these  ? 
How  from  the  year  313  onward  were  these  affected  towards 
Christianity  ? 

It  will  be  remembered  how  again  and  again  in  the  story 
of  Christianity  from  the  year  64,  and  even  earlier,  in  count- 
less centres  of  population,  a  fierce  persecution  frequently  arose 
owing  to  hostile  denunciations  by  the  populace.  Very  little, 
apparently,  was  needed  at  all  times  to  excite  them  against 
a  sect  which  from  various  reasons  was  indubitably  disliked  by 
the  masses.  Now  it  was  the  Jews  who  stirred  up  the  popular 
enmity ;  now  it  was  the  jealous  priests  of  the  Pagan  cult ; 
not  unfrequently  it  was  the  anger  of  traders  who  were  injured 
by  the  teaching  and  practice  of  Christianity.  One  or  other 
of  these  classes  of  a  city  population  would  often  stir  up 
their  fellow  citizens,  who  were  only  too  ready  to  force  the 
somewhat  reluctant  magistrates  to  harass  and  persecute 
the  sect. 

But  after  the  Edict  of  Milan  in  a.d.  313,  probably  at  a 
somewhat  earlier  date  in  the  Western  provinces  of  the  Empire,  a 
different  spirit  evidently  prevailed.  The  edicts  favourable  to 
Christianity  seem  to  have  been  quietly  received,  even  approved, 
and  in  many  places  positively  welcomed ;  and  vast  and  ever- 
increasing  numbers  of  the  population  hitherto  Pagan  joined 
the  Christian  communities.  Here  and  there,  it  is  true,  we 
hear  of  a  popular  demonstration  against  the  Christians,  such  as 
took  place  in  Alexandria,  but  such  temporary  outbreaks  wree 


478  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

put  down  without  difficulty.       Something  had  evidently  hap- 
pened to  bring  about  this  great  change  in  popular  opinion. 

The  conversion  of  Constantine  and  the  Edict  of  Milan  have 
been  usually  alleged  as  the  causes  of  the  strange  and  rapid 
conversion  of  "  the  masses  "  of  the  Empire  to  the  religion  of  the 
Crucified.  But  without  detracting  from  the  importance  of  these 
events,  we  would  urge  that  other  and  very  different  causes  were 
at  work  which  really  brought  about  this  wonderful  and  swift 
change  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

A  study  of  certain  Christian  writers  and  workers  in  the 
second  half  of  the  fourth  century  suggests  that  a  deep  impression 
was  made  upon  the  masses,  i.e.  the  people  generally  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  by  the  sufferings  and  conduct  of  the  Confessors 
in  the  great  Diocletian  persecution.  The  imagery  adopted  by 
Prudentius,  the  Spanish  poet  of  the  second  half  of  the  fourth 
century,  Avould  have  had  absolutely  no  meaning  did  it  not 
represent  a  popular  feeling  which  must  certainly  have  come  into 
existence  before  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century.  Thus  in  the 
Peri-Stephanon,  iv.,  Christ  is  spoken  of  as  sanctifying  a  great 
city  like  Saragossa  (Csesar  Augusta) ;  whole  cities  are  described 
as  finding  shelter  and  comfort  in  the  day  of  the  great  Assize 
under  the  shadow  of  the  strong  protection  of  some  martyr 
or  martyrs  who  had  been  specially  honoured  by  the  dwellers 
therein. 

Again,  much  of  the  long  later  life  of  the  once  renowned  and 
popular  Saint  Paulinus  of  Nola  is  taken  up  with  the  question 
of  "  pilgrimages."  He  tells  us  of  early  impressions  stamped  on 
his  childish  mind  by  the  sight  of  the  crowds  of  pilgrims  to  the 
humble  shrine  of  S.  Felix  of  Nola ;  and  as  Paulinus  was  born  a.d. 
353,  Christianity  must  have  permeated  the  masses  before  the 
middle  of  the  century  to  have  brought  such  a  number  of  devotees 
to  a  humble  and  little-known  shrine  during  his  childhood.  Now 
Nola  was  but  a  comparatively  humble  instance  of  many  other 
more  famous  Martyr-shrines.  Within  fifty  years  after  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  Milan  Edict,  it  would  seem  as  though 
Christianity  had  taken  by  storm  the  hearts  of  the  vast  majority 
of  the  masses  of  the  people. 

This  impression  is  confirmed   by  the   records  of  the  well- 


FROM   PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY.  479 

known  and  elaborate  works  carried  out  by  Pope  Damasns  during 
his  episcopate  at  Rome  a.d.  366-384.  Wben  Damasus  began  his 
memorable  pontificate  little  more  than  half-a-centur}^  had  elapsed 
since  the  Peace  of  the  Church  had  been  proclaimed.  The  works 
of  restoration  and  renovation  would  have  been  meaningless  had 
they  not  been  designed  for  the  devout  visits  of  a  vast  number  of 
Christian  pilgrims  from  distant  countries  to  the  many  sacred 
tombs  of  confessors  and  martyrs  for  the  Faith  who  had 
suffered  at  Rome.  It  is  obvious  that  the  passion  for  pilgrimage 
to  martyr-shrines  had  already,  before  the  period  of  his  Episcopate, 
permeated  the  people  not  only  in  Rome  but  also  in  far  distant 
provinces. 

Surely  then  we  are  not  in  error  when  we  assert  our  beHef 
that  Christianity  very  early  in  the  fourth  century,  certainly 
from  the  date  of  the  Edict  of  Milan,  a.d.  313,  had  gained  the 
key  to  the  hearts  of  the  people.-^  From  signs  no  candid 
student  can  safely  neglect  or  pass  over,  it  seems  clear  that 
the  events  connected  with  the  last  great  persecution  largely 
contributed  to  this  result.  Its  extent,  the  extreme  severity 
of  its  edicts,  the  terrible  thoroughness  with  which  these  edicts 
were  carried  out,  the  numbers,  the  constancy  and  brave 
patience  of  the  confessors,  although  in  the  Western  Provinces 
of  the  Empire  it  only  lasted  a  little  over  two  years,  must 
have  made  an  extraordinary  impression  on  the  people.  Its 
progress  was  made  easy — when  once  the  supreme  Government 
of  the  Empire  ceased  to  be  hostile  to  and  even  looked  with 
favour  upon  the  long  persecuted  religion,  when  once  the  un- 
lawfulness of  being  a  Christian  was  done  away  with  by 
Imperial  edicts,  formally  sanctioning  the  profession  of  the 
Christian  cult.  But  no  mere  favour  and  patronage  of  the 
Emperor  and  the  Court  could  ever  have  won  for  Christianity 
that  widespread  acceptance  among  the  people  which  was 
noticeable  even  before  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  century  had 
run  its  course.  Something  more  was  needed;  that  something 
the  persecution  of  Diocletian  and  the  conduct  of  the  sufferers 
in  the  persecution  in  large  measure  provided. 

To  the  nature  of  this  revulsion  of  feeling  witness  is  borne 

*  See  pp.  494-6. 


480  EAELY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

by  the  writings  and  the  records  left  by  some  prominent 
Christians  in  the  latter  half  of  the  fourth  century.  To  these 
we  shall  now  refer  in  detail. 

SECTION   II. — TYPICAL    STUDIES  :    (o)   PRUDENTIUS. 

We  select  then  for  our  purpose  four  distinguished  men: 
Prudentius,  the  Spanish  poet,  S.  Paulinus  of  Nola,  somewhile 
a  statesman,  later  an  ascetic  and  a  popular  writer,  Damasus, 
the  famous  Roman  bishop,  to  each  of  whom  reference  has 
already  been  made ;  and  S.  Martin,  the  loved  Bishop  of  Tours 
in  Gaul. 

Of  these,  Prudentius,  the  Spanish  poet,  not  only  speaks 
for  his  own  country  of  Spain,  but  also  gives  us  considerable 
information  connected  with  other  parts  of  the  Empire,  notably 
in  Italy  and  Rome.  Paulinus  of  Nola  represents  largely 
popular  opinion  in  Italy  and  Gaul,  Damasus  and  his  work 
speak  for  the  Christian  communities  of  the  capital  and  for 
the  vast  numbers  of  visitors  and  pilgrims  from  many  lands 
to  the  sanctuaries  of  Rome.  S.  Martin  is  the  representative 
-par  excellence  of  the  vast  province  of  Gaul. 

The  dates  of  the  four  are  as  follows  : — 

Prudentius 

Paulinus  of  Nola       

Damasus,  Bishop  of  Rome  from     ... 
Martin  of  Tours         

Prudentius  apparently  belonged  to  a  Christian  family, 
but  in  early  and  middle  life  religion  does  not  appear  to  have 
much  influenced  his  life  and  conduct.  He  was  a  lawyer  of 
some  distinction,  and  his  career,  a  briUiant  and  prosperous 
one,  culminated  in  his  appointment  to  an  important  provincial 
governorship.  Sometliing  occurred  in  that  sunny,  successful  life 
which  determined  him  to  give  up  his  public  career  as  a 
servant  of  the  State.  Retiring  from  the  world,  he  resolved 
to  devote  the  evening  of  his  life  to  literary  pursuits,  devoting 

*  These  eighteen  years  represent  his  Roman  episcopate. 


Born, 

Died. 

A.D. 

A.D. 

348 

405 

353 

431 

366 

384* 

316 

400 

FROM   PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY.  481 

his  pen  exclusively  to  the  assistance  of  the  religion  he  felt 
was  so  intensely  real  and  true.  He  soon  showed  that  he 
was  a  poet  of  no  ordinary  power,  and  he  consecrated  this 
power  to  the  service  of  the  Crucified  Master,  Who  had  sum- 
moned him  at  a  comparatively  late  hour  to  His  side. 

We  have  still  with  us  several  of  his  works,  Avhich  include 
his  dogmatic  poems  and  his  collection  of  hymns  which  have 
as  their  theme  the  various  divisions  of  the  day  "  Kath- 
emerinon,"  as  it  is  termed  ;  besides  his  answer  to  Symmachus 
the  Senator,  when  that  statesman  claimed  that  the  altar  of 
"  Victory  "  should  be  restored  to  the  old  place  which  it  occu- 
pied when  the  august  Senate  legislated  for  a  Pagan  Rome. 
As  poems,  though  they  belong  to  so  late  a  date  in  Latin 
literature,  they  are  unmistakably  the  work  of  a  master; 
the  "  Answer  to  Symmachus "  being  besides  a  piece  of  real 
historical  importance. 

But  a  more  special  interest  attaches  to  his  Peri-Ste- 
lihanon,  "  The  Book  of  the  (Martyrs')  Crowns."  It  contains 
fourteen  distinct  hymns  or  poems,  several  of  them  of  con- 
siderable length.  The  theme  of  these  pieces  is  the  "  passions  " 
of  certain  once-famous  martyrs,  the  various  circumstances 
of  their  trials,  the  final  victories  of  these  hero-suft'erers  for 
the  Faith. 

This  work  is  quite  original  in  its  character,  it  is  framed  on  nO' 
earlier  model,  and  Prudentius  may  be  said  to  have  had  na 
subsequent  imitator.  Much  of  it  is  taken  up  with  reproductions 
of  scenes  in  Pagan  Courts,  when  the  Christian  hero,  or  heroine 
as  the  case  might  be,  was  accused,  examined,  tortured,  and  then 
led  out  to  a  death  of  agony  which  was  endured  without  flinching^ 
the  brave  confessor  welcoming  indeed  with  unfeigned  gladness 
the  bitter  suffering  for  the  Lord's  sake.  These  hymns  attained  a 
wide  popularity,  and  some  of  them  apparently  were  read  or  sung 
in  churches,  being  substituted  for  the  prose  Acts  and  Passions 
of  Martyrs  which  were  frequently  read  on  the  day  when  the 
confessor  was  especially  commemorated. 

These  fervid  and  impassioned  poems  or  hymns  cannot,  of 
course,  be  received  as  faithful  and  exact  pictures  of  what  took 
place  in  the  Diocletian  or  in  the  yet  earlier  persecutions ;  but 

F  F 


482  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

they  do  represent  what  the  popular  imagination  in  the  years 
immediately  following  the  last  great  trials  and  sufferings  pictured 
to  itself  as  having  taken  place.  The  basis  of  the  stories  was  true, 
but  the  popular  fancy  added  many  a  legend  to  the  simple  original 
facts,  and  these  legends  were  utilised  by  our  poet. 

It  is  the  halo  of  glory  surrounding  these  martyrs  that 
especially  strikes  the  historian.  We  see  in  these  popular  poems 
what  a  profound,  what  a  lasting,  impression  the  sufferings  of  the 
martyrs  had  made  on  the  people  of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  saint- 
sufferer,  man  or  woman,  became  soon  positively  an  object  of  some- 
thing more  than  reverence.  Their  noble  confession,  their  splendid 
courage  and  endurance  for  the  Faith's  sake,  so  thought  the  people, 
had  won  for  the  brave  confessor  a  strange  power  in  Heaven,  so 
that  whatever  they  asked  at  the  throne  of  God  would  be  granted 
to  their  prayers.  This  Prudentius  evidently  held,  when  in  his 
impassioned  verse  he  thus  apostrophised  one  of  the  saints  of  his 
hymns :  "  Hear  me,  0  blessed  Spirit.  I  am  unworthy  that  Christ 
should  listen  to  my  prayer  for  pardon,  but  if  thou  wilt  speak  for 
me  to  the  Master,  He  will  surely  hsten  to  thy  voice"  (Peri- 
Stephanon,  ii.  572). 

To  Prudentius,  and  to  those  for  whom  he  wrote,  the  noble 
army  of  martyrs,  so  largely  recruited  in  the  persecution  of  the 
first  years  of  the  century,  Avere  already  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
beatific  vision  of  God,  and  their  powerful  intercession  was 
eagerly  sought  by  sufferers  alike  in  body  and  in  mind. 

The  saint  heroes  and  heroines  of  Prudentius  belong  to  no 
one  land,  to  no  solitary  nationality,  but  in  the  heart  of  the  poet, 
his  own  loved  Spain  evidently  holds  the  foremost  place.  We 
possess  indeed  but  few  records  of  the  days  of  the  last 
persecution  in  Spain,  but  the  vivid  and  fiery  verses  tell  us  how 
sharp  and  bitter  must  have  been  the  harrying  of  Christians,  how 
numerous  the  Spanish  sufferers,  in  that  dread  time.  Nowhere 
was  the  truth  of  the  well-known  saying  that  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  was  the  seed  of  the  Church  more  conspicuously 
exemplified  than  in  Spain,  the  home  of  Prudentius. 

When  our  poet  wrote  in  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  century, 
the  cult  of  the  martyrs  was  widely  spread  throughout  the 
country.     Already  well-nigh  every  city  of  importance  boasted 


FROM  PAGANISH!   TO    CHRISTIANITY.  483 

what  may  be  termed  its  patron  saint  or  saints.  Thus  Emerita 
(Merida)  Avas  proud  of  the  girl-confessor  Eulaha,  to  whose 
memory  the  citizens  had  speedily  raised  a  noble  church ;  its 
interior  glittering  with  gold  and  coloured  work,  and  bright  with 
variegated  mosaics  and  costty  marbles.  Tarragona  was  styled 
"  happy "  (felix)  Tarragona,  under  the  protection  of  its  saintly 
bishop,  the  martyr  Fructuosus.  Saragossa  (Caesar  Augusta),  how- 
ever, surpassed  all  other  cities,  in  our  poet's  estimate,  rankmg 
only  after  Rome  and  Carthage,  since  it  possessed  the  greatest 
number  of  martyrs,  the  presence  of  whose  ashes  sanctified  the 
whole  place,  where  Christ  reigned  indeed  as  Sovereign  Lord.-^ 

Nor  was  the  protection  in  Heaven  of  these  martyrs  only  a 
present  help  to  those  who  sought  their  succour  and  intercession 
in  days  of  sickness,  and  in  hours  of  sorrow.  In  the  bloody  and 
fiery  dawn  of  the  final  judgment  of  the  world,  the  confessors  of 
the  great  persecution  would  not  only  be  at  hand  to  succour 
individuals  who  had  honoured  and  paid  them  homage,  but  under 
the  shadow  of  their  strong  protection  whole  cities,  where  their 
memory  had  been  venerated,  would  find  shelter  and  comfort. 
Perhaps  the  grandest  of  the  many  striking  pictures  painted  by 
Prudentius  in  this  Epic  of  Martyrdom,  is  the  one  where  he 
describes,  in  his  musical  and  stirring  cadences,  the  Epiphany  of 
the  awful  Judge  descending  in  fiery  clouds  from  Heaven,  ready  to 
weigh  the  peoples  in  His  scales  of  judgment ;  and  there,  before 
the  Judge,  the  Spanish  cities  pass,  each  one  carrying  the  relics 
of  the  saint  and  martyr  it  had  long  honoured,  and  in  whose 
guardianship  it  had  trusted.f 

*  "  Christus  in  totis  habitat  plateis, 

Christus  ubique  est."  Ferl-Stephanon,  iv. 

f  "  Quum  Deus  dextram  quatiens  coruscam 
Nube  subnixus  veniet  rubente, 
Gentibus  justam  positurus  aequo 

Pondere  libram ; 
Orbe  de  magno  caput  excitata 
Obviam  Cbristo  properanter  ibit 
Civitas  quaique  pretiosa  portans 

Dona  canistris. 
Sterne  te  totam  generosa  Sanctis 
Civitas  mecum  tumulis ;  deinde 
Mox  resui'gentes  animas  et  artus 

Tota  sequeris  "'  Fcri-StepJtahon,  iv. 


484  EARLY    CHBI8TIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Such  a  poem  with  its  lofty  and  soul-stirring  imager}^,  with  its 
new,  strange  beliefs,  is  something  more  than  the  outcome  of  the 
inspiration  of  a  solitary  individual,  it  is  evidently  the  expression 
of  a  people's  thoughts. 

Prudentius,  in  many  of  his  startling  and  rousing  verses,  is 
evidently  the  mouthpiece  of  a  great  multitude.  Erroneous  and 
exaggerated  though  much  of  his  teaching  was,  evoking  as  it  soon 
did  the  warning  voices  of  serious  and  responsible  scholars  like 
the  great  Augustine,  there  is  no  mistaking  its  source  of  inspiration. 
What  Prudentius  wrote  and  clearly  himself  believed  was  without 
doubt  the  popular  creed  of  the  people  among  whom  he  lived, 
and  who  read  and  loved  the  pathetic  and  soul-stirring  lilts  of 
their  favourite  sonsr  man. 


'■iD 


(h)   PAULINUS   OF   NOLA. 

Nor  was  this  outcome  of  the  last  great  persecution,  this 
enthusiasm  of  the  masses  for  the  Christian  martyrs,  confined  to 
Spain  and  her  popular  poet ;  precisely  the  same  devotion  to  the 
martyr  for  the  Faith,  the  same  curious  trust  in  the  superhuman 
efficacy  of  the  martyr's  intercession,  is  conspicuous  in  the  writings 
of  Paulinus  of  Nola,  who  may  be  taken  as  the  representative  of 
popular  feeling  in  southern  and  central  Gaul  and  in  Italy. 
Paulinus  was  a  contemporary  of  Prudentius,  his  poetry  being 
written  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  fourth  and  early  years  of  the 
following  century. 

This  Paulinus  spent  his  youth  and  middle  life  in  Gaul  and 
Italy,  and  his  later  years  exclusively  in  Nola,  a  city  of 
Campania,  dying  at  an  advanced  age  Bishop  of  Nola,  about  the 
year  431. 

He  was  the  heir  of  a  very  noble  and  extremely  wealthy  family ; 
among  his  ancestors  were  not  a  few  persons  who  had  attained  to 
the  highest  dignities  in  the  Koman  Empire.  Gaul  proudly 
claims  Paulinus  as  one  of  her  sons,  his  father  having  chosen  as 
his  chief  residence  Bordeaux,  in  which  city  the  young  Paulinus 
was  born.  He  had  for  his  tutor  the  celebrated  rhetorician  and 
poet  Ausonius,  who  became  later  the  tutor  of  Gratian,  the 
Emperor  Valentinian's  son.     Ausonius  was  extremely  proud  of  his 


FROM  PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY.  485 

pupil  Paulinns,  and  used  bis  great  influence  to  procure  his  speedy 
advancement  to  the  Consular  dignity,  and  when  Paulinus 
withdrew  himself  altogether  from  the  world,  determining  to 
apply  his  great  talents,  his  enormous  wealth,  and  the  prestige 
of  his  eminent  name  to  devotion  and  to  furthering  what  he 
deemed  the  best  interests  of  Christianity,  his  whilom  tutor 
warmly  and  affectionately  remonstrated  with  him,  urging  him  to 
give  up  his  newly-formed  plans  of  life."^  It  was  about  a.d.  389 
that  Paulinus  finally  gave  up  the  world  in  which  he  promised  to 
play  so  brilliant  a  part.  For  some  thirty-five  years  or  more,  he 
resided  at  Nola,  a  small  Campanian  city,  where  a  little  basilica 
had  been  erected  over  the  tomb  of  S.  Felix,  a  martyred  presbyter, 
whose  memor}'  w^as  tenderly  cherished  in  that  part  of  Italy, 
and  whose  shrine  was  the  object  of  the  visit  of  innumerable 
piJgrims.  This  basilica  he  rebuilt  at  a  great  cost,  erecting 
around  it  elaborate  buildings  for  the  entertainment  of  pilgrims 
to  the  shrine. 

Durmg  this  long  period  of  retirement  Paulinus  by  no  means 
gave  up  his  literary  labours,  but  he  devoted  them  exclusively  to 
religion.  He  has  left  behind  him,  among  other  works,  a  valuable 
volume  of  letters,  and  a  still  more  interesting  collection  of  poems, 
many  of  them  of  considerable  merit ;  poems  which  he  wrote 
annually,  on  the  occasion  of  the  festival  of  S.  Felix,  largely 
bearing  on  the  merits  and  good  offices  of  the  saint  to  men,  but 
containing  many  vivid  pictures  illustrative  of  the  popular  aspects 
of  Christianity  in  the  latter  years  of  the  fourth  and  the  early 
years  of  the  fifth  century ;  of  which  poems  some  five  thousand 
lines  have  been  preserved. 

The  special  attraction  which  brought  the  illustrious  convert 
to  the  shrine  of  Felix  and  induced  him  to  spend  the  long  pro- 
tracted autumn  of  his  life  under  the  shadow  of   the   Church 

*  It  has  been  questioned  whether  or  not  this  famous  Man  of  Letters,  who 
for  a  time  was  one  of  the  more  influential  personages  of  the  Koman  world,  in  the 
second  half  of  the  fourth  century,  can  be  properly  termed  a  Christian.  On  the 
whole  it  appears  that  at  all  events  outH-ardhj  he  professed  Christianity.  In  his 
works,  however,  little  or  nothing  is  found  which  indicates  any  real  belief  in  the 
doctrines  of  the  Faith.  M.  Boissier,  in  his  study  Le  Fin  dn  Paganisme,  ii.,  11, 
well  sums  up  the  position  here  of  Ausonius  :  "  Evidemment  le  Chretianisme  a 
glisse  BUT  lui,  et  n'a  jamais  penetre  jusqua  son  ame." 


486  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

which  arose  over  the  martyr's  tomb,  is  not  at  first  sight  very 
evident. 

It  appears,  however,  that  when  a  boy  he  had  been  taken  to 
the  Httle  basilica  on  the  occasion  of  the  saint's  yearly  festival. 
His  child -mind  was  impressed  with  what  he  saw,  the  miracles 
worked  by  the  powerful  intercession  of  the  saint,  the  crowd  of 
worshippers  who  thronged  the  little  church,  the  earnest  devotion 
of  the  pilgrim- visitors.  These  things  were  never,  so  he  tells  us 
himself,  forgotten ;  and  far  on  in  middle  life,  the  longing  for 
a  closer  walk  with  God  gradually  took  possession  of  him, 
absorbing  all  his  thoughts,  colouring  all  his  projects.  Paulinus 
attributed  this  strange  change  passing  over  him  to  the  direct 
intervention  and  mediation  of  the  martyr-saint.  Gratitude  to  S, 
Felix  determined  him  to  fix  his  permanent  abode  hard  by  the 
tomb  where  the  sacred  remains  rested.  Henceforth  he  would 
watch  over  the  holy  spot  himself,  would  even  every  morning 
play  the  humble  part  of  sweeper  of  the  threshold  of  the  church, 
which  he  determined  to  enlarge  and  beautify,  making  fresh  and 
ample  provision  for  the  reception  and  entertainment  of  the 
many  pilgrims,  who  in  ever-increasing  numbers  frequented  the 
holy  place.  Paulinus'  purpose  remained  unchanged ;  for  some 
thirty-five  years  he  dwelt  in  the  little  Campanian  city,  only 
quitting  it  once  a  year  when  he  used  to  go  to  Rome  and  pray  at 
the  hallowed  shrines  of  the  martyr-apostles  SS.  Peter  and  Paul. 
In  addition  to  the  work  he  carried  out  in  the  basilica  and  shrine 
of  Felix,  and  in  the  pilgrims'  buildings  adjacent,  he  built  a  small 
monastery,  to  use  a  term  which  belonged  to  a  somewhat  later 
period;  where,  with  his  wife,  whom  he  termed  his  sister, 
and  a  few  like-minded  friends,  he  led  an  austere  and  self- 
denying  life,  in  which  he  asserted  that  he  found  a  happiness 
and  delight  utterly  unknown  to  him  in  his  former  days, 
when  as  a  wealthy  patrician,  high  in  the  favour  of  the  Em- 
peror, he  played  the  part  of  an  important  Roman  official  of 
the  highest  rank. 

How  deep  was  the  attachment  felt  and  the  devotion 
shown  towards  the  martyr  Felix,  not  only  by  the  poor 
and  sick,  but  by  trained,  highly-educated  men  like  the 
cultured    Paulinus,  is   shown   by  such   an    apostrophe   as    the 


FROM  PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY.  4S7 

following :  "  Be  kind  and  propitious  to  your  faithful  followers, 
I  have  been  tossed  on  the  Avaves  of  the  sea  and  on  the  heav- 
ing waters  of  the  world,  and  I  have  come  at  last  to  such  a 
quiet  haven  of  rest  close  to  thee,  I  have  laid  up  my  bark 
and  fastened  it  to  thy  shore." 

Our  "  cloistered  "  poet  dwells  on  the  number  of  pilgrims  to 
the  popular*  shrine  of  the  Nola  martyr.  Every  year  these 
devotees  grew  more  numerous.  They  came,  many  of  them, 
from  distant  Italian  provinces  and  cities,  from  ApuKa  and 
Calabria,  from  Naples  and  Capua,  from  Latium  and  the 
metropolis.  He  indulges  in  some  rhetorical  expressions  when 
he  mentions  the  enthusiasm  shown  by  citizens  and  dwellers 
in  Rome,  which  sent  her  thousands  to  little  Nola  when- 
ever the  anniversary  festival  of  S.  Felix  came  round.  The 
Appian  Way,  he  says,  was  literally  hidden  by  the  pilgi'im 
crowd.  He  dwells  on  the  miracles  which  he  saw  worked  at 
the  shrine  of  his  favourite  saint,  miracles  of  healing,  especially 
on  the  "  possessed "  by  evil  spirits.  Very  kind  was  S.  Felix 
to  all  poor  folk,  hence  his  widely  extended  popularit}'.  He 
tells  us  how  the  glorified  martyr  loved  to  listen  to  the  prayers 
of  these  humble  devotees,  and  did  not  disdain  to  grant  even 
their  curious  requests  for  their  sick  beasts.  These,  he  says, 
were  constantly  healed  as  a  result  of  their  petitions. 

But  Paulinus'  faith  in  the  power  of  his  martyr-saint  went 
far  beyond  these  comparatively  humble  manifestations  of 
supernatural  powers. 

The  early  years  of  the  fifth  century  witnessed  the  begin- 
nings of  the  final  ruin  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  ^Yest. 
AVhen  the  immediate  danger  of  the  invasion  of  Radagaisus 
the  Sclavonian,  and  his  barbarian  host,  was  averted  by  the 
victory  of  Stilicho  the  general  of  Honorius,  the  annual  poem 
of  Paulinus  in  honour  of  his  saint  commences  with  a  grlad 
note  of  triumph.  It  was  in  truth  a  strange  hymn  of  thanks- 
giving; the  writer  ascribes  the  great  victory  of  Roman 
civilisation  over  barbarism  to  the  intercession  of  S.  Felix,  who, 
uniting  his  prayers  to  the  Lord  with  those  of  SS.  Peter  and 

*  Paulinus  indulges  in  a  play  on  the  martyr's  name  :  "  O  felix  Felice  tuo  tibl 
prsesule  Nola." 


488  EABLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

I'aul,  had  obtained  a  respite  for  the  sorelj^-harassed  and 
threatened  Empire.  Its  days  were  to  be  prolonged  in  conse- 
quence of  the  powerful  mediation  of  these  saints. 

The  ascription  of  such  a  mediatorial  influence  to  the 
great  Apostles  was  a  grave  and  utterly  baseless  innovation 
in  the  primitive  teaching  contained  in  the  Master's  Gospel, 
but  to  associate  with  these  great  ones,  in  such  a  tremendous 
responsibility,  a  comparatively  unknown  martyr  like  S.  Felix 
of  Nola  was  indeed  to  advance  a  novel  and  a  startling  claim ; 
that  it  was  put  forward  by  one  subsequently  so  well  known 
and  revered  in  the  Church  as  S.  Paulinus  of  Nola  is  a 
strildng  testimony  to  the  exalted  and  exaggerated  position  to 
which  the  martyrs  of  the  persecutions  had  attained,  at  all 
events  in  the  popular  Christianity  of  the  da}^^ 

(c)  S.    MARTIN   OF   TOURS. 

S.  Martin,  Bishop  of  Tours,  a.d.  316-97,  in  the  course 
of  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  century  attracted  enormous 
love  and  veneration  from  the  numerous  Christian  congre- 
gations of  Gaul,  leaving  behind  him  an  unsurpassed  reputa- 
tion for  devotion  and  sympathy,  for  boundless  charity  and 
kindness  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men ;  his  beautiful 
life-story  is  the  chief  subject  of  the  writings  of  his  eminent 
scholar-disciple,  Sulpicius  Severus.  S.  Martin  followed  the 
almost  universal  practice  of  his  age  in  paying  extreme  rever- 
ence and  even  worship  to  the  remains  of  martyrs  for  the 
Faith.  Only  before  sanctioning  these  acts  of  devotion,  he 
required  solid  proofs  that  the  dead  saint  to  be  venerated  was 
in  very  truth  deserving  of  the  honour  Avhich  the  credulous 
people  were  only  too  ready  to  offer. 

*  It  may  possibly  be  pleaded,  in  extenuation  of  these  extraordinary  assertions 
respecting  the  power  of  the  martyrs  of  the  persecutions  to  intlueuce  the  Most  High 
in  His  dealings  with  men,  that  the  assertions  above  quoted  from  Prudentius  and 
Paulinus  of  Nola  appear  in  poems ;  and  that  the  writers  in  making  them  used  a 
poet's  licence  of  exaggeration  in  their  fervid  pictures  of  the  unseen  world.  But 
these  poems,  it  must  be  remembered,  were  of  the  nature  of  hyums,  and  contained 
without  doubt  the  creed  of  the  devout  and  earnest  writers  ;  they  also,  it  is  clear,  too 
faithfully  represented  the  "credenda"  of  the  mass  of  the  people  who  read  and 
istened  to  these  glowing  popular  lilts. 


FROM  PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY.  489 

The  most  striking  feature  of  S.  Martin's  life  is  the  enormous 
influence  he  evidently  exercised  upon  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
population  in  the  great  Gallic  pro\TLnces. 

He  was  no  writer  or  scholar  like  the  other  three  whom  we 
have  here  selected  to  dwell  on ;  he  was  simply  a  man  of  rare 
gifts  in  inspiring  sympathy.  The  almost  boundless  power  which 
he  evidently  obtained  over  the  hearts  of  the  inhabitants  of  Gaul 
from  about  the  year  353,  shows  us  that  a  large  proportion  of 
these  provincials,  if  not  already  Christians,  were  kindly  disposed 
to  the  sect.  S.  Martin  is  represented  by  his  devoted  biographer, 
Sulpicius  Severus,  not  as  the  great  missionary  to  a  Pagan 
people,  but  as  completing  a  work  already  largely  done.  He  is 
spoken  of  as  the  instrument  by  which  the  remammg  Pagans 
of  Gaul,  especially  in  the  southern  and  middle  districts,  were 
brought  to  the  confession  of  the  Crucified. 

And  no  small  portion  of  his  labours  was  devoted  to  wanning 
over  erring  Christians,  heretical  Christians,  to  the  Catholic  Faith. 
When,  full  of  years  and  honour,  he  passed  away  in  the  last  year 
of  the  century,  we  hear  of  the  citizens  of  two  important 
Galhc  cities,  Poitiers  and  Tours,  warmly  disputing  the  possession 
of  the  remains  of  the  loved  teacher ;  and  when  Tours  succeeded 
in  obtaining  the  coveted  prize,  the  whole  city  is  represented  as 
coming  out  to  meet  the  body  of  S.  Martin,  together  with  about 
two  thousand  monks. 

(d)   DAMASUS,   BISHOP   OF   ROME. 

Of  the  eminent  teachers  and  Christian  leaders  of  the  fourth 
century,  Damasus,  Bishop  of  Rome  (a.d.  366-384),  perhaps  did 
more  than  any  other  to  further  the  cult  of  the  martyrs.  Pope 
Damasus  was  a  prominent  figure  in  the  Church  life  of  that 
century  which  witnessed  the  triumph  of  Christianity  throughout 
the  Roman  Empire.  But  the  work  for  which  he  is  best  known 
is  his  elaborate  restoration  of  the  catacombs,  which  as  the 
resting-place  of  so  many  martyrs,  were  an  object  to  him  of 
special  interest. 

It  was  no  mere  antiquarian,  or  even  religious,  zeal  for  the 
works  of  his  fathers  in  the  Faith  which  inspired  Pope  Damasus 


490  EARLY    C'HBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

to  undertake  so  many  and  important  operations'^  in  the  City  of  the 
Christian  Dead ;  but  it  was  above  all  an  ardent  devotion  to  the 
martyrs  whose  remains  had  been  deposited  there  at  different 
periods.  It  was  the  same  spirit  of  loving  admiration  for  the 
heroes  of  the  Faith,  an  admiration  which  too  quickl}'^  shaded  into 
devotion,  which  inspired  the  poems  of  Paulinus  of  Nola,  the 
same  spirit  which  lives  along  the  pages  of  the  hymns  of 
Prudentius  on  "  The  Crowns  of  the  Martyrs,"  a  spirit  which  may 
be  regarded  as  a  remarkable  feature  of  popular  Christianity  in 
the  first  years  of  its  triumph. 

Damasus'  long  and  patient  work  was  a  labour  of  love.  With 
immense  pains  and  care  in  many  placesf  he  removed  the  earth 
and  re-opened  the  closed  corridors  and  sepulchral  chambers, 
which  had  been  earthed -up  in  the  days  of  the  Decian  or 
Diocletian  persecutions ;  he  widened  a  vast  number  of  the 
passages  so  as  to  make  them  accessible  to  the  crowds  of 
pilgrims,  who,  from  all  lands,  wandered  to  Rome,  to  pray  at  these 
sacred  shrines  of  the  dead  ;  and  even  constructed  many  flights 
of  stairs  leading  down  to  the  more  illustrious  tombs.  In  some 
more  special  cases  he  adorned  the  chambers  with  costly  marbles, 
and  opened  shafts  to  admit  air  and  light,  when  it  was  practicable, 
to  facilitate  the  pilgrim  visits.  In  nearly  all  the  catacombs 
that  have  yet  been  investigated  traces  of  these  labours  of  Pope 
Damasus  have  been  found,  and  as  the  excavations  advance, 
fragments,  large  and  small,  of  the  beautifully-chiselled  inscrip- 
tions of  his  famous  artist  Filocalus,  are  constantly  being  found. 
The  works  carried  out  during  his  Pontificate  gave  a  great 
impetus  to  that  passion  for  pilgrimage  to  the  martyrs'  shrines, 
which  became  henceforth  a  marked  and  enduring  feature  in 
Christian  life. 

So  persistent  and  so  general  had  this  "  cult "  of  the  martyrs 
become  that  grave  alarm  was  excited  among  certain  of  the  more 

*  Pope  Marcelliniis,  Bishop  of  Rome  a.d.  296-308,  and  his  deacon  Severua 
for  instance,  earthed-up  the  famous  Papal  crypt  in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Callistus, 
and  the  adjacent  chambers.  These _were  in  part  excavated  by  Pope  Damasus  and 
restored. 

t  One  of  the  inscriptions  of  Pope  Damasus,  found  on  the  tomb  of  S.  Eutychiu3 
in  the  catacomb  of  S.  Sebastian,  runs  as  follows:  QUiERITUR,  INVENTUS 
COLITUR 


VirianI,  Rom". 
THE     TOMB     OF     S. 


EUSEBIUS,     BISHOP    AND     MARTYR,     A.D.     310. 


A  Chamber  in  tlie  Cemetery  of  S.  Callistus.     The  inscrijition  is  a  Sixtli  Century  restoration  of  that 
put  up  by  Pope  Daniasus,  of  whieli  fragments  were  found  on  the  floor. 


FROM  PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY. 

thoughtful  Christian  theologians.  A  note  of  warning  was 
struck,  perhaps  with  over-much  bitterness,  by  one  Yigilantius, 
in  whom  some  have  seen  a  very  earl}^  pioneer  of  Luther.  Yigilan- 
tius, born  in  Aquitaine,  in  Southern  Gaul,  about  a.d.  370,  was  a 
friend,  possibly  a  pupil,  of  Sulpicius  Severus,  of  whom  we  have 
already  spoken  as  the  companion  and  biographer  of  S.  Martin 
of  Tours.  For  a  time  he  lived  in  some  intimacy  with  Paulinus 
of  Nola  and  with  Jerome.  He  was  subsequently  ordained  and 
became  a  presbyter,  settling  in  Gaul,  or  perhaps  in  Spain ; 
}  in  his  later  life  he  wrote  a  work,  which  obtained  considerable 
\>  celebrity,  against  superstitious  practices,  notably  against  relic 
worship,  and  the  vigils  in  the  basilicas  of  the  martyrs.  The 
treatise  in  question  is  lost,  and  is  only  known  to  us  through  the 
writing  of  Jerome,  Contra  Vigilant liiin,  in  which  work  the 
great  Latin  Doctor  bitterly  inveighs  against  the  opinions  of  the 
Gallic  divine.  Largely,  it  would  seem,  in  consequence  of  this 
unfavourable  judgment  of  Jerome,  Yigilantius  came  to  be 
ranked  amono-  heretics.  But  the  note  of  alarm  which  he  struck 
gives  us  some  indication  that  the  exaggerated  reverence  for 
martyrs  upon  which  we  have  been  dwelling  was  gravely  misliked, 
at  least  by  a  section  of  theological  teachers. 

But  a  far  more  considerable  theolosfian  than  Yigilantius  was 

also  disturbed  at  the  rapid  growth  and  universal  prevalence  of 

•  the  martyr  cult.     The  great  Augustine  (a.d.  35-1-430)  bitterly 

f  grieves  over  the  popular  superstition  which  led  uneducated  and 
superstitious  crowds  to  kneel  in  adoration  before  the  tombs  of 
famous  confessors  of  the  Faith.  He  takes  some  pains  to  define 
the  style  of  homage  which  might  fairly  be  paid  to  saints  and 
vf  martyrs.  "  We,"  he  writes,  "  do  not  treat  these  as  deities  ;  we 
»  have  no  intention  of  imitating  the  Pagans  here,  who  adore  the 
dead,  we  erect  no  temples  in  their  honour,  we  adorn  for  them  no 
altars,  but  with  their  remains  we  raise  an  altar  to  the  one  God."* 
When  the  relics  of  S.  Stephen  were  brought  with  great  ceremony 
to  Augustine's  church  at  Hippo,  he  took  the  greatest  pains  that 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  should  be  restramed  from  all 
extravagant  excesses. 

*  Compare  S.  Aug.,  De  Moribus  Ecc.   C((</((//., ^34-76,  and  ^Sermons  273,  230, 
318,  325. 


492  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY    AXD    PAGANISM. 

Yet  in  spite  of  sober  theologians  of  the  Cathohc  Church  the 
mischief'^  to  a  great  extent  was  done.  But  with  the  theological 
question,with  the  consequent  errors  and  superstition  so  disfiguring 
to  Christianity,  the  historian  has  little  to  do.  We  have  dwelt  at 
some  length  upon  this  strange  development,  so  general  and 
so  widespread,  because  it  sprang  almost  wholly  and   entirely  out 

y*  of  the  last  and  final  persecution  of  Diocletian.      That  supreme 
effort  of  Paganism  was,  as  we  have  seen,  gigantic,  far-reaching, 

'^  desperate.  It  harried  uncounted  thousands  of  every  class  and 
^  i  order  ;  the  sufferings  which  paganism  inflicted  upon  its  Chris- 
/  V  tian  foes  were  indeed  terrible,  but  the  very  magnitude  of  the 
effort  was  one  of  the  causes  of  its  ultimate,  its  complete  defeat. 
There  were,  of  course,  some,  perhaps  many,  Christians  whose 
hearts  failed  them  in  view  of  the  awful  suffering  which  lay 
before  them.  But  on  the  whole,  the  courage,  the  brave  patience, 
the  noble  constancy,  of  the  Christian  congregations  enabled 
them  to  endure  all  rather  than  fail.  A  very  great  number  shed 
their  blood,  and  in  pain  and  agon}^  borne  in  brave  patience  for 
the  Name's  sake,  passed  to  their  rest  in  the  Paradise  of  God. 
Many  more,  who  were  not  condemned  to  death,  endured  the  loss 
of  all  things  that  made  life  pleasant  and  joyous. 

But  all  this  great  suffering,  the  noble,  patient  endurance  of 

"the  confessors,  the  spilt  blood  of  the  martyrs,  was  not  for  nought. 
Innumerable  Pagan  bystanders  watched,  and  when  at  last  the 
persecutors  stayed  their  hands,  and  the  Christians  were  left 
alone,  largely  owing  to  their  persecutors  growing  weary  of 
inflicting  wrongs  and  suffering  upon  an  unresisting  folk,  multi- 
tudes, who  had  seen  and  marvelled  how  their  old  foes  had  borne 
all,  had  suflfered  and  had  died  rather  than  recant,  determined  to 
throw  in  their  lot  with  the  strange  people  who  had  been 
evidently  helped  in  the  deadly  struggle  by  some  unseen, 
mighty  power. 

)<-  This  is  the  explanation  of  the  sudden  conversion  to  Christianity 
of  a  large  portion  of  the  subjects  of  the  great  Empire  on  the 


*  The  grave  injurj'  done  to  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church  of  the  fourth 
century,  by  the  introduction  of  these  novelties  into  her  teaching,  is  alluded  to  in  the 
next  Chapter  (XVII.). 


t- 


FROM   PAGANISM    TO    CHRISTIANITY.  493 

morrow  of  the  proclamations    by  the    Government  of  "  Peace  " 
for  the  Church. 

The  reasons  of  the  extravagant  gioritication  of  the  martyrs 
on  which  we  have  just  dwelt  are  not  far  to  seek.  No  honour 
was  too  great  to  show  to  the  more  conspicuous  among  the  late 
sufferers  for  the  Faith.  The  old  man  and  the  young  girl,  the 
senator  and  the  slave,  who  in  especially  trying  circumstances, 
had  shown  the  sublime  courage  of  the  Christian  martyr,  became 
at  once  the  objects  of  popular  reverence.  Nay,  more,  those 
noble  souls  who  had  borne  so  splendid  a  witness,  were  surely 
now,  so  many  loved  to  think,  very  close  to  the  Master  for  Whom, 
and  for  Whose  cause  they  had  died ;  surely  He  could  refuse 
nothing  to  such  brave  and  devoted  servants.'^  They  would  ask 
these  glorified  ones  who  had  been  so  lately  among  them,  of  their 
company,  in  their  homes,  partners  of  their  sorrows  and  their  joys, 
to  speak  for  them  to  their  Lord.  They,  the  martyrs,  surely  had 
only  to  ask  a  boon,  and  it  would  be  at  once  granted.  Hence  the 
martyr  cult.  Its  genesis  is  not  difficult  to  grasp.  It  was,  of  course, a 
sad  error,  and  a  grievous  one,  deplorable  indeed  in  its  far- 
reaching  consequences,  but  we  can  understand  exactly  how  it 
came  about. 

*  The  feeling  of  passionate  reverence  for  these  bravely  patient  sufferers  for  the 
Truth's  sake  was  not  peculiar  to  the  men  and  women  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  ccntui'ies. 
It  inspired  one  of  the  noblest  passages  in  one  of  our  latest  philosophic  writers. 

"  For  the  love  of  their  Divine  Master,  for  the  cause  they  believed  to  be  true, 
men  and  even  weak  girls  endured  these  things  without  flinching,  when  one  word 
would  have  freed  them  from  their  sufferings.  No  opinion  we  may  form  of  the 
proceedings  of  priests  in  a  later  age  should  impair  the  reverence  with  which 
we  bend  before  the  martjT's  tomb."— Lecky  :  Hist,  of  European  Morals,  vol.  i., 
chap,  iii.,  pp.  497-8. 


494 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

AFTER   THE    PEACE   OF   THE   CHUECH. 
SECTION    I. — CHRISTIANITY    AND   THE    FALL   OF   THE   EMPIRE. 

To  the  reader  of  the  foregoing  chapters  of  this  vohime,  con- 
taining the  recital  of  the  great  struggle  between  Christianity 
and  Paganism,  a  few  pressing  questions  naturally  suggest 
themselves  respecting  the  fortunes  of  the  Church  after  the 
great  and  sudden  change  which  passed  over  it  in  the  first 
quarter  of  the  fourth  century. 

Without  attempting  anything  like  a  connected  history  of 
the  years  which  directl}^  followed  the  Edict  of  Milan,  a 
brief  reply  may  be  given  to  the  questions  which  seem  to  press 
for  an  immediate  answer.  These  are  introduced  by  the 
inquiries : 

(1)  What  brought  about  the  sudden  and  rapid  conversion 
of  the  majority  of  the  peoples  of  the  Empire  ? 

(2)  Was  the  ruin  of  the  Empire,  the  result  of  the  barbarian 
invasions  in  the  century  following  the  general  acceptance  of 
Christianity,  attributable  in  an}'  wa}^  to  this  acceptance  of 
Christianity  ? 

(3)  What  was  the  attitude  of  Christianity  towards  the 
unhappy  citizens  of  the  fallen  Empire,  and  the  swarms  of 
barbarian  invaders  who  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries 
overran  her  territories,  sweeping  away  Roman  society  through- 
out all  the  Western  provinces,  including  Gaul,  Britain,  Spain, 
Italy,  and  North  Africa  ? 

(1)  The  first  of  these  questions,  "What  brought  about  the 
sudden  and  rapid  conversion  of  the  majority  of  the  peoples 
of  the  Empire  ? "  has  been  already  touched  upon.  It  seems 
that   a  deep  impression   was  made   upon   the  inhabitants    of 


AFTER    TEE    PEACE    OF    THE    GHURGE.  495 

many  of  the  provinces  by  the  behaviour  of  the  Christians 
in  the  course  of  the  last  terrible  persecution  carried  on  under 
the  name  of  Diocletian  and  his  colleagues,  so  that  when  the 
Imperial  decree  in  favour  of  the  long  persecuted  sect  was  pro- 
mulgated it  found  a  ready  acceptance  among  the  multitudes. 
But  much  had  been  done  already  by  the  teaching  and  prac- 
tice of  the  Christians  tOAvards  gaining  the  hearts  of  the  people 
during  the  preceding  two  and  a  half  centuries.  The  seed 
had  been  sown,  and  it  only  needed  the  powerful  impulse  to 
which  we  have  been  referring  to  mature  it.  Men  had  gradually 
come  to  see  what  Christianity  really  was,  what  a  pure  and 
noble  system  it  taught,  and  how  capable  it  was  of  realisation 
in  action.  "  Amid  the  softening  influence  of  philosophy  and 
civilisation  it  taught  the  supreme  sanctity  of  love.  To  the 
slave  who  had  never  before  exercised  so  large  an  influence  over 
Roman  religious  life  it  was  the  religion  of  the  suffering  and  the 
oppressed.  To  the  philosopher  it  was  at  once  the  echo  of 
the  highest  ethics  of  the  later  Stoics,  and  the  expansion  of 
the  best  teaching  of  the  school  of  Plato.  To  a  Avorld  thirst- 
ing for  prodigy  it  offered  a  history  replete  with  wonders.  .  .  . 
To  a  world  that  had  grown  very  weary  gazing  on  the  cold, 
passionless  grandeur  which  Cato  realised  and  which  Lucan 
sang,  it  presented  an  ideal  of  compassion  and  of  love,  an 
ideal  destined  for  centuries  to  draw  around  it  all  that  was 
greatest  as  well  as  all  that  was  noblest  on  earth — a  Teacher 
who  could  weep  by  the  sepulchre  of  His  friend,  who  Avas 
touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities.  To  a  world,  in 
fine,  distracted  by  hostile  creeds  and  colliding  philosophies, 
it  taught  its  doctrines,  not  as  a  human  speculation  but  as  a 
Divine  revelation.  .  .  .  One  great  cause  of  its  success  was  that 
it  produced  more  heroic  actions  and  formed  more  upright 
men  than  any  other  creed.  .  .  .  There  was  no  doubt  that 
Christianity  had  transformed  the  characters  of  multitudes, 
vivified  the  cold  heart  by  a  ne^v  enthusiasm,  redeemed, 
regenerated  and  emancipated  the  most  depraved  of  mankind. 
Noble  lives,  crowned  by  heroic  deaths,  were  the  best  argu- 
ments of  the  infant  Church.  Their  enemies  not  infre- 
quently   acknowledged     it.       The    love    shown    by   the   earl}' 


496  EARLY    CHIIISTIAXITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Christians  to  their  suffering  brethren  has  never  been  more 
emphatically  attested  than  by  Lucan,  or  the  beautiful  sim- 
plicity of  their  worship  than  by  Pliny,  or  their  ardent  charity 
than  by  Juhan.  .  .  ."-^ 

(2)  The  second  question  stands  thus:  "Was  the  ruin  of  the 
Empire,  brought  about  by  the  barbarian  invasions  in  the  century 
following  the  general  acceptance  of  Christianity,  attributable 
in  any  way  to  this  acceptance  of  Christianity  ? " 

The  accusation — that  in  the  abandonment  of  the  ancient 
religion  of  the  Empire  must  be  sought  and  found  the  cause 
of  the  misfortunes  and  ruin  of  the  Avorld-wide  Roman 
domination — reaches  back  to  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries, 
the  epoch  of  the  ruin  and  misfortune.  The  first  and  in 
some  ways  the  most  obvious  plea  urged  at  that  time  was 
that  the  desolation  of  the  Empire  was  owing  to  the  anger 
of  the  deserted  and  offended  gods,  who  naturally  left  to  them- 
selves peoples  who  had  contemptuously  abandoned  their 
worship;  a  plea  put  forward  with  earnestness  and  zeal  by 
believers  in  Paganism — still  no  inconsiderable  number  in  those 
centuries  when  the  great  change  in  belief  was  passing  over 
the  Roman  world,  but  this  does  not  now  demand  serious  con- 
sideration. Other  reasons,  however,  for  supposing  that  the 
adoption  of  Christianity  contributed  to  the  ruin  of  the  Empire 
have  been  advanced  which  merit  a  more  grave  attention. 

It  has  been  urofed  with  considerable  truth  that  in  the  old 
world  the  worship  of  local  deities  inspired  the  dwellers  in  the 
city  and  country  where  these  deities  were  the  especial  object 
of  adoration  with  an  intense  spirit  of  patriotism.  The 
deities  were  identified  with  the  city  and  countr}'-,  and  noble 
deeds  of  devotion  and  self-sacrifice  were  performed  in  the 
service  of  the  god  under  whose  protecting  care  the  city  or 
country  flourished ;  all  this  patriotic  sentiment  was  weakened, 
perhaps  extinguished,  by  Christianity,  which  swept  away  all 
local  objects  of  adoration,  substituting  in  their  place  One 
God  who  loved  all  peoples,  cities,  and  countries  with  the  same 
pitying    but    changeless    love.     Thus,   it    is   said,   Christianity 

*  Lecky :  European  3Iorals,  chap,  iii.,  pp.  412-419,  441. 


AFTER   THE  PEACE   OF  THE  GHUBCE.  497 

destroyed  tlie  patriotic  heroism  which  would,  under  the  old 
state  of  things,  have  defended  the  Empire  against  the  bar- 
barian invaders.  But  the  truth  is  that  this  ancient  feehng 
of  patriotism  had  been  extinguished  long  before  Christianity 
was  adopted  as  the  religion  of  the  Empire.  Already  in 
Rome  strange  deities,  such  as  Mithras  and  Serapis,  had  largely 
taken  the  place  of  the  old  national  objects  of  worship — foreign 
gods  whose  worship  could  inspire  no  special  patriotic  feeling ; 
and  the  same  change  had  passed  over  the  provincial  centres. 
The  mischief,  if  it  were  a  mischief,  dates  long  before  the  years 
of  the  fourth  century,  when  Christianity  was  beginning  to  be 
generally  accepted. 

Other  and  very  different  causes  precipitated  the  ruin  of 
the  mighty  Empire,  a  ruin  which,  although  coincident  with 
the  victory  of  Christianity,  was  in  no  way  connected  with  its 
adoption.  These  causes  had  been  long  at  work,  for  the 
Empire,  both  morally  and  politically,  had  been  for  many 
years  in  a  condition  of  manifest  decline.  Within,  may  be 
noted  in  this  connection  the  increase  of  the  slave  population 
and  the  consequent  grave  deterioration  of  morals,  the  growth 
of  luxury,  the  gradual  decrease  of  population,  the  ever 
augmenting  taxation,  which  reached  its  culminating  point  in 
the  last  decades  of  the  third  century  under  Diocletian,  when 
the  condition  of  the  people  under  the  enormous  fiscal  burdens 
they  were  called  upon  to  bear  became  almost  intolerable. 
Without,  the  presence  of  the  barbarian  nations'^  on  all  the 
frontiers  of  the  Empire,  a  pressure  which  the  enfeebled  pro- 
vinces each  succeeding  year  were  less  able  to  resist.  But  all 
these  things  were  of .  older  date  than  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries,  and  none  of  them  can  be  referred  to  Christianity; 
they  made  up  an  evil  heritage  upon  which  the  Christianised 
Empire  entered,  but  the  state  of  things  was  emj^hatically  not 
one  for  which  it  was  in  any  way  responsible. 

We  have,  however,  to  face  the   fact   that  on  the  morrow, 

*  The  enormous  and  seemingly   sudden  increase  in  the  numbers   of  these 
barbarian  peoples  in  the  third  and  following  centuries  on  all  sides  of  the  Empire  is 
a  problem  which  has  never  yet  been  exhaustively  discussed,  and  remains,  indeed 
something  of  a  mystery  to  the  historian. 
G  G 


498  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

SO  to  speak,  of  the  cessation  of  persecution  of  the  Church,  quickly 
followed  by  the  recognition  and  acceptance  of  Christianity  as 
the  religion  of  the  Roman  world,  the  Empire  fell  to  pieces ; 
Christianity  proving  powerless  to  stave  off,  or  even  for  a  single 
hour  to  delay,  the  utter  ruin.  Nor  does  it  seem  in  any  ap- 
preciable degree,  after  its  almost  general  adoption,  to  have 
succeeded  in  transforming  the  Pagan  society,  or  in  making  it 
more  capable  of  resisting  the  formidable  hordes  of  invaders. 
In  the  century  which  followed  the  conversion  of  Constantine 
and  the  Edict  of  Milan,  society  in  all  its  grades  continued  as 
hopelessly  corrupt  as  before;  nor  was  any  strenuous  effort 
made  to  ward  off  the  utter  ruin  which  eventually  overtook 
the  Roman  civilisation.  In  the  course  of  this  sorrowful 
century  a  group  of  singularly  able  and  earnest  Christian 
teachers  and  writers  arose,  such  as  Ambrose  and  Augustine, 
Jerome  and  Chrysostom,  Orosius  and  Salvian,  who  tell  us 
without  disguise  what  was  the  feeling  of  the  Church,  and 
admirably  voice  the  hopes,  the  fears,  and  outlooks  of  the 
more  serious  Christians  of  their  day  and  time.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  they  were  at  first  grievously  disappointed  with 
the  results  of  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  world.  Their  sad 
^  words  have  been  weU  described  as  a  long  cry  of  grief ;  they 
felt  themselves  swallowed  up  by  Pagan  corruption.  "  Civil 
society,  like  religious  society,  appeared  Christian.  The 
Sovereigns  and  the  immense  majority  of  the  people  had  em- 
braced Christianity,  but,  at  bottom,  civil  society  was  Pagan, 
it  retained  the  institutions,  the  laws,  and  the  manners  of 
Paganism.  It  was  a  society  which  Paganism  and  not  Chris- 
tianity had  made.""^  And  yet  for  that  society  the  Church  felt 
itself  in  some  degree  responsible. 

Besides  this  there  were  various  other  causes  at  work  which 
account  for  the  Church's  early  failure  to  transform  this  vast 
Roman  society  which  had  adopted  its  religion. 

We  may  touch  upon  certain  of  the  more  obvious  of  these. 
(a)  When  all,  or  well-nigh  all,  were  Christians,  or  at  least 
nominally  Christians,  the  influence  of  the  Church  on  the  life 
of  the   mdividual,  or   on  the  life   of    society  in  general,   was 

*  Guizot :    Hist,  de  la  Civiltsatlon  en  France,  Lect.  11. 


AFTER   THE  PEACE  OF  THE   CHUllGH.  499 

>    enormously  reduced.      The  comparatively  little  body  of  really 

!  earnest  believers  was  lost  in  the  great  multitude  of  professed 
Christians,  ver}'  many  of  whom  remained  semi-Pagans  at  heart. 
This  so-called  Christian  society  was  exposed  to  all  the  tempta- 
tions sanctioned  by  the  Paganism  of  the  Empire,  of  which 
the  gladiatorial  games  are  a  prominent  example.  These 
games,  almost  inconceivable  in  their  atrocity,  were  the  favourite, 
even  the  habitual,  amusement  of  the  society  of  the  Empire ; 
and  the  arrangements  for  their  performance,  eclipsing  every 
other  monument  of  Imperial  magnificence,  are  still  among 
the  most  imposing  relics  of  old  Rome.  We  must  remember 
when  we  speak  or  write  of  these  horrible  spectacles,  that  the 
main  diversion  of  all  classes  of  the  people  was  the  spectacle  of 
bloodshed ;  of  the  death,  sometimes  of  the  torture,  not  only 
of  animals  but  of  human  beings.  The  ghastly  fascination 
and  the  inhuman  influence  of  these  games  of  the  amphi- 
theatre "  pervaded  the  whole  texture  of  Roman  life,  they  be- 
came the  commonplace  of  conversation,  the  ver}^  children 
imitated  them  in  their  play,  the  philosophers  drew  from  them 
their  metaphors  and  illustrations.  The  artists  portrayed  them 
in  every  variety  of  ornament."  "^  As  late  as  the  closing  years 
of  the  fourth  century  we  read  of  the  Prefect  Symmachus,  who 
was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  estimable  of  the  lovers  of 
the  old  regime,  collecting  some  Saxon  prisoners  to  fight  in 
honour  of  his  son.  They  strangled  themselves  in  prison,  and 
Symmachus  mourned  over  the  misfortune  that  had  befallen 
him  from  their  impious  hands,  f  A  few  years  later  even  S. 
Augustine  relates  how  one  of  his  friends,  being  attracted  to 
the  Amphitheatre,  endeavoured  by  shutting  his  eyes  to  guard 
against  a  horrible  fascination  which  he  knew  to  be  sinful.  A 
sudden  scream  caused  him  to  open  them,  and  he  never  could 
withdraw  his  gaze  again.  | 

{h)  Another   cause   of  the   seeming    powerlessness    of    the 

*  Lecky  :  European  Morals.  His  picture  of  the  popular  amusements  at  this 
period,  aud  their  effect  on  the  lives  of  the  people,  is  very  vivid.  See  f.Vol.  I., 
chap,  xi.,  pp.  287-305,  and  see,  too,  Boissier :  La  fin  du  Paganisme,  livrev., 
chap.  xi. 

t  Symmachus  :    Epist.  11,  46. 

X  S.  Aug.  :  Confess,  vi.  8. 


500  EARLY    GHEISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Church  to  regenerate  or  even  materially  to  intluence  society 
in  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  fourth  century  must  be  sought 
in  the  fatal  schism  which  appeared  in  her  communities  in 
the  first  years  which  followed  her  victory.  It  was  a  schism 
which  threatened  her  very  existence,  and  affected  to  an 
almost  incalculable  extent  her  influence  for  good.  Arianism, 
with  its  subtle  suggestions  casting  doubt  on  the  supreme 
divinity  of  the  blessed  Founder  of  the  religion,  sapped  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity ;  and  with  its  appeals 
to  unassisted  human  reason,  rapidly  obtained  a  wide,  though 
a  comparatively  short-lived,  popularity.  Strangely  enough 
this  Arianism  found  allies,  all  powerful  for  a  season,  on  the 
Imperial  throne.  The  great  Constantino  gave  ear  to  its 
teachers.  Matters  were  even  worse  under  his  successors. 
"The  Emperor  Constantius  (a.ix  337-361)  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  Arians,  and  cruelly  persecuted  the  Catholics. 
,  .  .  .  Valens,  Emperor  of  the  East,  an  Arian,  like  Con- 
stantius, was  a  still  more  violent  persecutor."^ 

S.  Jerome,  writing  at  the  close  of  the  fourth  century, 
uses  the  following  strong  expression  on  the  subject  of  the 
wide  prevalence  of  this  heresy :  "  The  whole  world  groaned, 
and  was  astonished  to  find  itself  Arian."t 

It  is  true  that  the  "  whole  world,"  to  use  Jerome's  some- 
what rhetorical  expression,  in  after  years  w^oke  up  from  its 
feverish  dream,  and  the  Catholic  faith  regained  its  empire 
over  the  hearts  of  the  large  ma-jority  of  Christian  believers, 
while  Arianism  was  gradually  relegated  to  the  position  of  a 
sect,  which,  as  time  passed  on,  became  ever  less  and  less 
influential.  But  long  before  the  Catholic  doctrine  had  re- 
covered its  supremacy  in  the  Church,  the  great  change  had 
passed  over  the  Roman  world,  and  the  Empire  had  virtually 
ceased  to  exist.  Amono;  the  causes  which  marred  the 
Church's  influence  in  the  early  days  of  its  adoption  as  the 
religion  of  the  Empire  the  widespread  Arian  heresy  holds  a 
conspicuous  place. 

*  Bossuet  :    Cinquieme  Advertissement  aiix  Protestants,  C.  18. 
t  S.  Jerome  :  Dial.  adv.   Luc,   c.   xix.     "  Ingemmt  totus   orbis,  et  Ai-ianum 
miratus  est  se  esse." 


AFTER    THE  PEACE   OF   THE   CHURCH.  501 

(c)  With  somewhat  greater  caution  may  be  adduced 
another  probable  cause  for  the  Church's  impotence  in  the 
matter  of  the  renovation  of  the  corrupt  and  dissohite  Pagan 
society  of  the  fourth  century. 

Judging  from  the  clear  and  definite  pictures  painted  by 
the  popular  Christian  poet  Prudentius,  the  poems  and  writings 
of  Paulinus  of  Nola,  and  the  ideals  they  exhibit,  the  side 
lights  thrown  on  the  life  of  the  Church  by  Pope  Damasus 
of  Rome*  the  stern  reproaches  of  Vigilantius,  the  grave 
warnings  of  Augustine — the  Church  of  the  days  which  im- 
mediately followed  the  Peace  established  by  Constantino,  the 
Church  of  the  fourth  century,  was  curiously  weakened  with 
strange  superstitions.  The  cult  of  the  martyrs  had  introduced 
into  the  popular  belief  elements  quite  unknown  to  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  Faith  in  the  first  days,  elements  utterly  foreign 
to  the  primitive  teaching  of  the  Gospel.  Such  novelties  in 
matters  of  belief  and  practice  no  doubt  grievously  detracted 
from  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Church.  How  deeply  these 
grave  errors  had  sapped  the  life  of  Christianity  at  that  time 
is  hard  to  measure,  but  that  such  teaching  was  widespread 
and  popular  is  almost  certain. 

(3)  The  startling  rapidity  with  which,  at  the  close  of  the 
fourth  and  during  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century,  the 
floods  of  barbarian  invasion,  one  quickly  following  on  the 
other,  overwhelmed  all  the  fairest  and  richest  provinces  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  came  as  a  terrible  surprise  upon  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men.  Generally  speaking,  the  resistance 
of  the  Imperial  forces  was  feeble,  half-hearted,  and  ill-directed  ; 
only  one  conspicuous  example  of  a  great  commander  can  be 
with  certainty  quoted  as  having  arisen  in  that  period  of 
tremendous  disaster.  Stilicho's  campaign  against  Radagaisus, 
which  resulted  in  the  hordes  of  that  famous  barbarian 
chieftain  being  forced  to  retire  from  Italy,  stands  out  in  bold 
relief  among  the  countless  disasters  which  terminated  in   the 

*  All  these  various  pieces  of  testimony,  belonging  to  the  second  half  of  the 
fourth  and  the  earlier  years  of  the  fifth  century,  have  teen  dwelt  upon  at  some 
length  in  the  preceding  chapter. 


502  EARLY    CHlilSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

total  ruin  of  the  Western  and  more  important  division  of  the 
Roman  Empire.''^  The  following  rough  table  of  some  of  the 
principal  invasions  and  their  dates  will  show  at  a  glance 
what  befel  the  hapless  Roman  world  in  these  sad  years  : — 

Circa  A. II. 

396  Alaric's  invasion  of  Greece  and  Southern  Europe. 
400-3         „  „  of  Italy. 

406  Radagaisus  invades  Italy  (but  is  defeated  by  Stiliclio). 
„  „         Gaul. 

408  Alaric  and  his  Goths  in  Italy  ;  first  siege  of  Rome. 
40.f)  Second  siege  of  Rome. 

410  Alaric  takes  and  sacks  Rome  and  ravages  Italy. 

412  Adolphus,  King  of  the  Goths,  overruns  and  seizes  Gaul. 

409  The  Suevi,  Vandals,  and  Alans  invade  Spain. 
415-8  The  Goths  invade  and  conquer  Spain. 

430-9     Genseric  and  the  Vandals  overrun  and  conquer  North  Africa. 
450-3     Attila  and  the  Huns  overrun  Italy  and  Gaul. 

At  the  close  of  the  fourth  and  in  the  early  years  oi  the 
fifth  century  the  more  thoughtful  of  the  Roman  people, 
strange  to  say,  were  still  apparently  unconscious  of  the  utter 
ruin  which  menaced  the  Empire  and  the  whole  fabric  of 
Roman  society.  Clouds  of  barbarians  not  only  menaced  the 
frontiers,  but  had  already  invaded  many  of  the  provinces, 
had  even  penetrated  into  Italy,  and  had  been  seen  at  the 
gates  of  Rome.  Yet  in  spite  of  these  ominous  warnings,  men 
still  believed  in  the  majesty  of  the  immemorial  city,  and  were 
persuaded  that  the  hordes  of  invaders  would  be  rolled  back 
from  her  gates,  and  that  the  formidable  invasions  were  but 
transient  calamities.  The  victories  of  Stilicho  over  Alaric, 
and  more  conspicuously  over  Radagaisus,  were  hymned  in 
exultant  language  by  the  Christian  poet  Paulinus  of  Nola 
and  by  the  Pagan  song-man  Claudian.  Claudian  especially 
voiced  public  opinion  when  he  sung  of  the  Roman  power  as 
of  something  which  recognised  no  terms,  no  limit,  and 
pointed  to  the  barbarian  armies  fleeing  before  Stilicho  as  a 
striking  object-lesson  for  the  invaders,  f 

*  The  resistance  of  ^tius  to  Attila  and  the  Huns  was  not  until  the  middle 
of  the  fifth  century,  when  all  was  already  lost.  The  forces,  too,  of  iEtius  were 
mainly  composed  of  Goths  and  Franks. 

1 1 "  Discite  vesanae  Eomam  non  temnere  gentes." — Claudian  :  Be  bcllo  Get.,  647. 


AFTER   THE  FEAGE   OF  THE   CHURCH.  503 

But  all  these  dreams  of  safety  were  rudely  dissipated  by  the 
fall  and  sack  of  Rome  in  a.d.  410,  when  Alaric  and  his  Goths 
for  ever  dissipated  the  illusion  of  the  inviolability  of  the 
Eternal  City. 

The  etfect  produced  throughout  the  Roman  world  by  the 
fall  of  Rome  in  a.d.  410  was  terrible  and  far-reaching.  No 
succession  of  invasions  of  the  provinces,  no  lengthened  occupa- 
tion of  a  country  by  a  barbarian  horde,  struck  home  as  did  the 
news  of  the  sack  of  the  Imperial  city,  so  long  the  centre  of 
Roman  civilisation.  Augustine  tells  us  how  "  the  whole 
world,  even  in  the  Far  East,  shuddered  at  the  dread  tidings.""^" 
Jerome,  in  his  Bethlehem  retreat,  wrote  that  the  torch  of  the 
world  was  extinguished.! 

Augustine,  Bishop  of  Hippo,  in  the  earlier  years  of  the 
fifth  century,  was  the  greatest  figure  in  Christianity  since 
the  days  of  the  Apostles ;  no  teacher  had  enjoyed  so  wide, 
so  general  an  authority.  His  greatest  literary  work  on  the 
"  City  of  God  "  was  begun  in  the  j-ear  413.  Its  primary  object, 
and  especiall}^  its  earlier  part,  was  devoted  to  questions  con- 
nected with  the  great  catastrophe  of  a.d.  410,  and  was  a 
well-reasoned  answer  to  the  plaint  of  the  Pagan  party  in  the 
Empire,  that  the  disasters  which  had  befallen  Rome  were 
owing  to  the  Christians  and  their  lately  acquired  supremacy 
in  the  Empire.  Augustine  argued  that  instead  of  the  Chris- 
tians being  responsible  for  the  calamity  which  had  happened 
to  the  great  city  all  would  have  been  lost  had  it  not  been  for 
Alaric's  friendship  for  Christianity  ;  as  it  was,  the  churches  of 
Rome,  and  those  who  sought  sanctuary  within  their  waUs, 
were  spared,  among  those  who  were  thus  preserved  being 
many  Pagans. 

Through  this  important  work  of  the  Christian  master, 
the  composition  of  which  occupied  some  thirteen  years,  a 
strange  vein  of  optimism  as  regards  the  poUtical  situation 
runs.  Bad  though  things  seemed,  Augustine  could  not  bring 
himself  to  believe  that  all  was  lost.  "  The  Empire  is  sorely 
tried,  rather  than  completely  changed ;   do  not  let  us  despair 

*  Aug.  :  Sernio  de  urbis  excidio. 

+  Jerome:  Commentat.  in  Ezeeh.  prol. 


504  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    FAGANISM. 

of  resurrection,  for  who  knows  here  what  is  the  will  of 
God."* 

The  thoughts  and  feelings  of  some  at  least  of  the  more 
responsible  leaders  of  Catholic  Christianity  in  this  anxious 
period  of  stress  and  storm,  included  roughly  in  the  second 
and  third  decades  of  the  fifth  century,  are  expressed  in  the 
well-known  "  Universal  History  "  of  Orosius.  This  composi- 
tion may  in  certain  aspects  be  regarded  as  a  sequel  to  the 
"  City  of  God  "  of  Augustine. 

Paul  Orosius,t  a  Spaniard  by  birth,  was  the  disciple  and 
friend  of  the  great  Augustine ;  the  same  optimistic  view  of 
the  political  situation  noticed  in  "  The  City  of  God "  runs 
through  the  writings  of  the  younger  scholar,  perhaps  even 
exaggerated.  In  reality  the  period  when  Orosius  was  writing 
was  one  of  the  saddest  the  world  has  ever  known ;  but  Orosius 
viewed  the  terrible  barbarian  inroads  as  a  severe  trial  rather 
than  as  the  total  ruin  of  the  Empire.  A  sadder  and  more 
faithful  view  of  the  desperate  situation  and  of  the  cruel  suffer- 
ings to  which  the  hapless  population  of  well-nigh  all  the 
Western  and  more  important  provinces  were  subjected  is, 
however,  given  in  two  anonymous  poems  J  belonging  to  the 
same  period  which  have  come  down  to  us.  These  represent 
the  Empire  as  utterly  ruined,  the  aspect  of  cities  and  country 
being  completely  changed,  the  sword,  fire,  and  hunger  having 
passed  over  them.  The  human  race  is  represented  as  perish- 
ing, war  is  everywhere.  The  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand, 
"  Ultima  quseque  vides."  "  Ultima  pertulimus  ! "  Another 
contemporary  poem   containing  a  vivid   picture   of  the   bitter 

*  Be  Civ.  Dei,  iv.  7,  "  Eomanum  imperium  afflictum  est  i^otius  quam 
niutatuin." 

t  His  great  work,  "  The  Universal  History,"  was  much  read  throughout  the 
middle  ages ;  King  Alfred  translated  and  somewhat  abridged  it.  It  was  largely- 
studied  as  late  as  in  the  sixteenth  centuiy,  in  which  age  as  inanj'  as  twenty-six 
editions  were  published. 

I  These  anonjnnous  poems  are  entitled  Ad  Uxorem  and  De  Proridcnti't  ; 
they  will  he  found  in  iligne,  among  the  works  of  S.  Prosper,  to  whom  they 
once  were  wrongly  attributed.  They  are  referred  to  at  some  length  by 
Boissier,  Le  fin  dii  Paganisme,  vol.  ii.  To  these  two  pieces  may  be  added  the 
Coiiunonitorium  of  S,  Orientius,  composed  somewhat  later,  probaVjly  early  in  the 
fifth  century. 


AFTER  THE  PEACE  OF  THE   CHURCH.  505 

sufferings  endured  by  the  great  Gallic  proprietors  lias  also 
been  preserved.  Paulinus  of  Pella,  a  rich  and  noble  pro^ancial 
connected  with  some  of  the  great  houses  of  the  hapless 
Empire,  lived  to  see  his  sumptuous  villas  burned,  his  wife 
and  children  slain,  and  in  his  old  age  found  himself  poor 
and  soHtary,  a  little  farm  quite  insufficient  for  his  support 
being  the  only  relic  of  his  vast  estates. 

A  few  years  later  than  Orosius,  the  weighty  and  important 
writings  of  Sahaan  give  us  a  lurid  picture  of  the  state  of 
the  dying  Empire  about  the  year  450  or  somewhat  later. 
The  optimism  of  the  "  City  of  God,"  and  of  Orosius'  "  Universal 
History,"  has  disappeared  in  the  lengthy  and  exhaustive  treatise 
"  On  the  Government  of  God,"  by  Salvian.  Events  had  indeed 
moved  quickly  in  the  twenty  years  which  followed  the  date 
of  Augustine's  death  in  the  year  430;  there  was  no  longer 
any  room  for  hope.  Gaul,  Spain,  Africa,  most  of  Italy,  were 
occupied  by  barbarian  invaders,  who  had  come  to  stay  in 
those  vast,  fair  provinces,  not  simply  to  raid  and  to  harry 
them,  Salvian'^  recognises  the  fact  that  the  grand  Empire 
was  indeed  dying,  if  it  were  not  already  dead.  It  is  no  longer 
to  Pagans  that  his  arguments  are  addressed.  Pagans  had  in 
effect  disappeared  from  the  scene,  and  the  great  majority  of 
the  world  of  Rome,  outwardly  at  least,  was  professedly  Chris- 
tian. Many  of  the  more  thoughtful  were  asking  how  it  came 
about  that  the  Empire,  now  a  vast  Christian  community,  was 
so  manifestly  the  object  of  the  Divine  wrath.  Salvian  replies 
to  the  agonised  enquiry  by  drawing  a  picture  of  the  Roman 
of  the  dying  Empire,  and  the  barbarian  raider  whom  God  was 
using  so  manifestly  as  His  instrument  of  punishment. 

In  his  vivid  portraiture  of  the  so-called  "  Christian  "  Romans, 
Salvian  paints  a  society  living  in  conditions  of  awful  depravity 
and   degradation   rarely   surpassed.      He   spares    no    class,   no 

*  Of  Salvian's  private  life  but  little  is  known.  He  and  his  wife  voluntarily 
chose  the  life  of  ascetics.  He  was  evidently  a  person  of  the  highest  culture.  He 
spent  several  years  in  the  Monastery  of  Lerins,  an  island  near  Toulon,  a  great 
home  of  learning  and  devoted  piety.  His  great  work  on  "  The  Government  of  God," 
above  referred  to,  was  composed  ctrca  a.d.  450,  or  a  few  years  later;  he  spent  the 
later  years  of  his  life  at  Marseilles. 


50  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

order.  The  merchants  and  traders  are  fraudulent  and  dis- 
honourable, the  pubhc  functionaries  hopelessly  corrupt  and 
venal,  the  legionaries  of  the  Empire  faithless  and  robbers ; 
the  clergy,  if  possible,  worse  than  the  laity,  being  unjust, 
greedy,  immoral ;  the  ecclesiastic  had  changed  his  dress  not 
his  life.  The  Roman  society,  so  sorely  tried  in  that  fatal  age, 
Salvian  paints  as  a  sink  of  iniquity ;  and  though  he  may  have 
overdrawn  his  gloomy  picture,  there  is  little  doubt  that  it 
was  on  the  whole  evil  and  corrupt.  We  learn  this  much  at 
least  from  other  contemporary  authorities;  men  who  wrote 
from  very  different  standpoints,  such  as  Ammianus  MarceUinus 
and,  a  few  years  later,  Jerome  and  Chr3'sostom. 

The  barbarian  invader  in  Salvian's  eyes  was,  on  the  whole, 
a  nobler  being  than  the  degenerate  Roman  Christian ;  cruel 
he  Avas  undoubtedly,  a  robber  and  ignorant ;  but  his  vices 
were  practised  by  the  Roman  Christians ;  ^  in  some  respects 
the  morals  of  the  stranger  nations  were  purer.  We  read  of 
the  Vandal  conqueror,  Genseric,  for  instance,  after  the  fall  of 
Carthage  purging  the  city  of  its  haunts  of  vice.  Those  of 
them  who  professed  Christianity  were  no  doubt  tainted  with 
the  heresy  of  Arius ;  but  this  was  the  result  of  no  deliberate 
choice  on  their  part.  It  was  from  Arians  they  had  derived 
their  knowledge  of  the  religion  of  Jesus. 

The  sum  of  Salvian's  argument  undoubtedly  is  that  the 
rough,  often  untutored  barbarian  was  more  worthy  to  be  the 
master  of  the  world  than  the  desfenerate  Roman,  Christian 
though  he  professed  to  be.t  In  our  day  even  Montalembert, 
the  fervid  Roman  Catholic  scholar,  has  strongly  endorsed 
the  conclusions  of  Salvian,  when  in  his  Monks  of  the  West 
(Book  I.)  he  describes  the  Roman  Empire  without  the  bar- 
barians as  "  an  abyss  of  servitude  and  corruption." 

Amidst    all   this    chaos    of    misery    into    which    the    once 

*  "Injiisti  sunt  barbari,  et  nos  hoc  sumus,"  Salvian,  iv.,  14,  65.  This  late- 
Latin  exi)rossion  is  reproduced  in  the  well-known  French  idiom,  "nous  le  sommes." 

t"  Their  modesty  puriiies  the  earth  all  stained  by  Roman  debauchery." — 
Salvian,  v.  2  and  vii.  G. 

S.  Aug.  had  already,  Dc  Civ.  Lei,  1-4  and  7,  dwelt  upon  the  forbearance  of 
the  soldiers  of  Alaric  (the  Goth)  before  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  and  he  speaks  of 
the  "  misericordia  et  humilitas"  of  these  fierce  conquerors. 


AFTER   THE  PEACE  OF   THE  GHUBOH.  507 

mighty  Empire  was  plunged  we  catcli  sight  of  the  presence 
of  a  great  Church — great  in  spite  of  the  disorders  referred  to 
by  Salvian  in  his  burning  rhetoric,  perhaps  with  some 
exaggeration  in  his  details — which,  amid  all  the  terrors  of  the 
barbaric  conquest,  amid  deep-seated  corruption  and  unspeak- 
able misery,  still  taught  to  Roman  and  to  barbarian  alike  a 
pure  morality  and  a  lofty  ideal,  enforcing  its  teaching  by  the 
strongest  motives  of  action.  This  Church  was  everywhere,  in 
the  camps  of  the  invader,  in  the  captured  cities,  in  the 
desolated  country,  controlling,  strengthening,  comforting,  or 
over-awing  with  its  great  traditions  and  splendid  history ; 
strongly  organised,  drawing  to  its  side  the  best  and  noblest 
spirits  among  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered ;  possessing 
in  its  ranks  some  of  the  greatest  leaders  and  teachers  who 
have  in  the  long  story  of  Christian  progress  ever  adorned  the 
ranks  of  the  believers  in  Jesus  with  their  virtue  and  self- 
denial,  their  wisdom  and  learning. 

Among  these  were  Martin  of  Tours,  the  more  jDrominent  mem- 
bers of  the  monastic  House  of  Lerins,  such  men  as  Augustine, 
Ambrose,  and  Jerome,  Damasus  and  Athanasius,  Basil  and 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  with  others,  their  friends,  and  fellow- 
workers  ;  some  known,  more  whose  names  have  not  been 
handed  down,  guides  of  the  Church  in  those  dark  and 
perilous  times.  Naturally  their  wishes,  and  for  a  time  their 
hopes,  were  bound  up  with  the  fortunes  of  the  Empire. 
We  see  from  the  writings  of  Augustine  and  Orosius  they 
trusted  that  things  would  in  the  end  go  right  with  the 
immemorial  domination  of  Rome ;  and  it  was  with  deep 
sorrow  they  witnessed  the  rapid  decadence  of  the  Empire. 
But,  although  the  Church  naturally  grieved  over  the  ruin  of 
the  old  state  of  thmgs  and  mourned  the  dissolution  of  the 
old  society,  she  never  threw  in  her  lot  with  the  falling 
Empire,  but  gradually  separated  her  cause  from  the  old 
vanquished  Rome,  feeling  that  her  work  would  endure  even 
though  Rome  perished.  So  when,  recognising  that  all  was 
over,  she  turned  to  the  new  conquering  nations  with  her 
divine  story,  her  hopes,  and  her  promises — saving  from  the 
wreck  of  the  old  world  and  the  old  civilisation  all  that   was 


508  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY    AND    PAGANISM 

possible  to  preserve,  and  standing  between  tlie  Romans  and 
the  barbarians,  somewhat  in  the  position  of  a  neutral  power — 
she  obtained  with  the  conquerors  a  mighty  influence  which 
was  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  conquered. 

SECTION    II. — THE   MONASTIC   DEVELOPMENT. 

Salvian,  in  his  picture  of  Roman  society,  spared  no  class, 
no  calling;  even  the  clergy,  whom  at  first  he  excepted  from 
his  denunciations,  he  included  later  in  his  general  summary 
of  those  who  shared  in  the  almost  universal  laxity  of  conduct. 

It  could  hardly  have  been  otherwise,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  a  large  portion  of  the  society  of  the  Empire  in  the 
second  half  of  the  fourth  century  was  Christian  only  in 
name,  while  in  heart  and  mind  it  remained  Pagan. 

There  were,  however,  many  earnest  and  devout  followers 
of  Jesus  amidst  the  thoughtless  masses  who  made  up  the 
population  of  the  Empire,  who  clearly  recognised  the  grave 
peril,  and  felt  that  something  must  be  done  lest  Christianity 
should  be  swamped — lost  in  the  crowd  of  heedless  professors 
of  the  beautiful  creed  which  had  inspired  the  comparatively 
small  company  of  believers  in  the  centuries  of  persecution. 

It  was  out  of  this  urgent  need  that  monasticism  arose. 
The  great  "Chrysostom,  writing  circa  a.d.  376,  defends  and 
extols  the  monastic  spirit  which  was  then  beginning  to  be 
a  great  power  in  the  Church.  It  has  many  powerful  adver- 
saries, but  he  speaks  of  it  as  "the  true  philosophy."-^  He 
considers  that  monasticism,  in  the  confused  state  of  things 
which  existed  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  fourth  century,  was 
the  one  resource  and  hope  of  Christianity,  and  all  through 
his  brilliant,  chequered  career,  the  great  theologian,  preacher, 
and  thougfht-leader  continued  to  defend  and  extol  the  new 
monastic  institutions.  And  with  him,  in  his  estimate  of 
monasticism,  with  scarcel}'  an  exception,  went  all  the  group 
of  eminent  men  who  at  that  hour  of  extreme  peril,  when  the 

*  The  treatise  containing  the  famous  apology  of  Chrysostom,  written  circa 
A.D.  376,  is  termed  Aclversits  Opptigiiatores  Vitce  Monasticfc ,  and  is  divided 
into  three  books. 


AFTER   TEE  PEACE   OF  THE   CHUBGH.  509 

very  foundations  of  tlie  old  society  were  being  uprooted, 
kept  the  lamp  of  Christianity  brightly  burning;  whose  words 
and  writings  during  the  fifteen  centuries  which  have  elapsed 
since  they  fell  asleep,  have  been  the  treasure  house,  the 
arsenal  of  her  theology.  In  the  Eastern  churches,  men  such 
as  Athanasius  and  Chrysostom,  Basil,  and  Gregory  of  Nazi- 
anzen;  in  the  Western  churches,  Martin  of  Tours,  Ambrose, 
Jerome,  and  Augustine ;  and  a  few  years  later,  Vincent  of 
Lerins  and  Csesarius  of  Aries,  with  one  voice,  in  their  teach- 
ing and  by  their  example  not  only  defended  the  novel 
institution  of  monasticism,  but  pointed  to  it  as  an  organisa- 
tion absolutely  necessary  to  the  Church  and  to  Christendom. 
It  appeared  first  in  the  East  in  the  last  years  of  the  third 
and  the  early  years  of  the  fourth  century.  Amid  the  deserts 
of  Egypt  we  mark  its  first  real  beginnings.  Some  of  the 
victims  of  the  bitter  persecution  of  Diocletian  sought  there 
a  refuge  from  the  cruelty  of  the  Government,  but  as  Bossuet 
well  says,  "  The  persecution  made  fewer  solitaries  than  the 
peace  and  the  triumph  of  the  Church."  The  name  of  Anthony, 
who  died  in  a.d.  356,  is  deservedly  celebrated  as  the  father 
and  head  of  the  solitaries  of  the  Thebaid,  whom  he  trans- 
formed into  Coenobites."^  A  contemporary  of  Anthony  vras 
Pachomius,  who  died  in  a.d.  348.  He  gave  to  the  Coenobites 
of  Anthony  a  written  rule,  traditionally  given  to  him  by  an 
angel.  This  Pachomius  founded  upon  the  Nile  at  Tabenne, 
an  island  a  little  above  the  first  cataract  in  the  Thebaid, 
the  first  monastery  properly  so-called — or  rather  a  congrega- 
tion of  eight  monasteries,  containing,  it  is  said,  many  thousand 
monks.  Rapidly  the  two  Thebaids  of  the  Egyptian  deserts 
were  peopled  with  monks.  The  houses  of  nuns  or  female 
solitaries  at  this  same  period  in  number  were  nearl}^  equal 
to  the  monasteries.     The  numbers  given  are  simply  enormous,! 

*  The  derivations  of  the  terms  used  to  designate  the  new  order  of  monastics 
are  as  follows : — Co-nobites  Koivhs  (common),  and  ^los  (life),  ascetics  affKija-ts 
(exercise),  anchorites  dvaxi^peu  (to  put  oneself  apart,  to  withdraw),  monk, 
monastery  novos  (alone,  solitary),  abbat  (abbot),  the  Syriac  abba  (father). 

t  Kufinus,  Hist.  3Ion.,  xi.  5,  mentions,  for  instance,  that  as  early  as  a.d.  356, 
at  Oxyrinchus,  on  the  Nile,  were  as  many  as  ten  thousand  monks  and  twenty 
thousand  virgins. 


510  EARLY    CEFISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

but  are  probably  exaggerated.  Each  of  these  early  religious 
houses  was  a  school  of  labour,  the  inmates  numberincr  in 
their  ranks  weavers,  curriers,  carpenters,  etc.  At  Tabenne 
there  was  a  special  school  of  scholars.  Under  the  rule  of 
Pachomius  every  monk  was  required  to  be  able  to  read  and 
write.  Not  a  few  profound  theologians  and  teachers  were 
trained  in  these  houses  of  prayer  and  solitude.  An  almost 
perpetual  fast  was  rigorously  required  from  the  many  inmates 
of  the  religious  houses.  From  Egypt,  before  the  end  of  the 
fourth  centur}^  this  strange,  novel  stream  of  monastic  life 
overflowed  into  Arabia,  Syria,  and  Palestine,  and  even  further 
east  into  Mesopotamia,  where  we  hear  of  it  from  the  writings 
of  Ephrem  of  Edessa. 

In  the  West  it  was  almost  an  unknown  feature  in  Church 
life  until  circa  a.d.  340,  when  Athanasius,  driven  from  his 
home  in  Alexandria  by  the  Arians,  came  to  Rome.  This 
eminent  and  far-sighted  Church  leader  at  once  used  his  great 
influence  to  introduce  into  Rome  and  Italy  the  new  phase 
of  Church  life  which  had  so  rapidly  and  powerfully  moved 
Egypt.  Somewhat  later  he  issued  his  life  of  Anthony,  the  great 
Egyptian  monk;  and  this  work,  published  under  the  name 
and  authority  of  the  greatest  of  the  Catholic  theologians,  quickly 
acquired  a  wide  popularity  throughout  the  West.  The  story 
of  Egyptian  monasticism,  told  with  all  the  winning  power  of 
the  great  Master,  came  as  a  revelation  to  the  Church  of  the 
West,*  Avhich  was  languishinsf  and  fadino-  under  the  conditions 

*  There  is  in  one  of  the  charmed  passages  of  the  Confcstiions  of  Augustine  a 
<:hance  reference  to  this  "  Life  of  Anthony  the  Monk "  by  Athanasius,  which 
undesignedly  tells  us  into  what  centres  it  had  penetrated,  how  widely  it  was  cir- 
culated, how  powerful  was  its  influence.  Augustine  was  at  Milan  lecturing  upon 
eloquence.  One  day  he  received  a  visit  from  one  of  his  African  countrymen, 
named  Potitianus,  a  military  officer  of  high  rank  on  the  staff  of  the  Emperor. 
"  We  seated  ourselves,"  said  Augustine,  "to  talk,  when  he  happened  to  notice  a 
book  which  lay  on  the  table  before  us.  He  opened  it ;  it  was  '  The  Apostle  Paul.' 
I  confessed  to  him  that  reading  it  was  my  principal  study.  He  was  then  led  in  the 
course  of  conversation  to  speak  to  us  of  Anthony,  the  monk  of  Egypt,  whose  name 
so  glorious  among  Thy  servants  was  unknown  to  us.  He  perceived  this,  and 
confining  himself  to  that  subject  he  revealed  the  great  man  to  our  ignorance, 
which  astonished  him  much ;  and  we  were  lost  in  admiration  when  we  heard  of 
these  marvels  so  recent,  almost  contemporary,  which  were  worked  in  the  Catholic 
Church.  .  .  .  From  them  his  conversation  \  turned   upon   the    holy  flocks  of  the 


AFTER    THE  PEACE   OF   THE  CHURCH.  511 

we  have  been  sketching.  The  new  organisation  at  once  breathed 
a  fresh  life  into  the  Roman  and  Italian  churches,  q-iving  them 
power  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  changed  world  now  rapidly 
growing  up  round  them.     With  extraordinary  rapidity  monas- 

monasteries,  and  the  perfumes  of  virtue  which  went  up  from  them  towards  their 
Lord  ...  of  which  we  knew  nothing,  Even  at  i\Iilan  there  was  a  cloister  full  of 
Brothers  trained  under  the  wing  of  Ambrose,  at  that  time  Bishop  of  ^lilan,  and  we 
knew  nothing  of  it."  Then  the  soldier  told  Augustine  how  he  came  first  to  hear  of 
Anthony  and  the  new  lite  of  monasteries.  "  He  was  in  garrison  at  Treves  on  duty 
at  the  Imperial  Palace  ;  the  Emperor  was  spending  the  afternoon  at  the  spectacles 
of  the  Circus  ;  he  and  three  of  his  brother  officers  went  to  walk  in  the  gardens  laid 
out  close  to  the  walls  of  the  City,  and  as  they  walked  two  and  two,  one  with  him 
and  the  two  others  together,  they  separated.  The  two  latter  entered  a  cottage  on 
the  way,  -where  lived  some  of  those  voluntary  poor  who  are  Thy  servants,  and  there 
they  found  a  marutscript  of  the  Life  of  Authony .  One  of  them  began  to  read  it,  he 
admired  it,  his  heart  burned,  and  as  he  read  the  thought  rose  up  :  should  he  embrace 
such  a  life  and  leave  the  warfare  of  the  age  to  serve  Thee  ?  [Thej'  were  both  in  the 
service  of  the  Emperor.]  Suddenly  he  was  filled  with  a  divine  love  and  holy 
shame  .  .  .  and  casting  his  eyes  on  his  friend  he  said :  '  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee, 
■whither  all  our  labours  tend  ?  What  is  it  we  seek  ?  For  whom  do  we  carry  arms  ? 
What  can  be  our  greatest  hope  in  this  palace  but  to  be  friends  with  the  Emperor  ? 
And  how  frail  is  that  fortvme  I  AVhat  perils,  and  how  many  perils  before  reaching 
the  greatest  peril  I  Besides,  when  shall  that  be  attained  ?  But  if  I  desire  to  be  a 
friend  of  God  I  am  so,  and  instantly.'  He  spoke  thus,  all  shaken  by  the  birth  of  his 
new  life,  and  then  his  eyes  returning  to  the  holy  pages  (of  the  Life  of  Anthony  the 
monk)  he  read :  His  heart  changed  in  Thy  sight  ...  he  read  on,  and  the  waves 
of  his  soul  flowed,  trembling  ...  he  was  already  Thine,  when  he  said  from  his 
soul,  *  It  is  done,  I  break  with  all  our  hope,  I  will  serve  God,  and  now  in  this 
place  I  begin  the  work,  if  thou  wilt  not  follow  me  deter  me  not.'  The  other 
answered  that  he  also  would  win  his  share  of  glory  and  spoil.  .  .  .  Potitianus  and 
his  companion,  after  having  walked  in  another  part  of  the  garden,  reached  their 
retreat,  seeking  their  two  companions,  and  told  them  it  was  time  to  go  back  because 
the  day  fell.  But  they,  declaring  their  design,  told  how  their  resolution  had  come 
to  them  and  had  established  itself  in  their  minds  ;  they  entreated  their  friends  not 
to  oppose  their  determination  even  if  thej'  refused  to  share  it  .  .  .  they  piously  con- 
gratulated their  comrades  and  returned  to  the  palace."  Both  these  ofiicers, 
Augustine  tells  us,  had  betrothed  brides,  who,  hearing  this,  consecrated  to  Him 
their  virginity.  Then  Augustine,  in  the  vivid  page  of  his  Confessions,  relates 
the  effect  produced  upon  him  by  Potitianus'  story.  "  I  was  penetrated  with  shame 
and  confusion  while  Potitianus  spoke.  ...  I  seized  Alypius  (his  dear  friend  and 
companion)  and  cried  out:  "  What,  then,  are  ive  doing?  How  is  this?  .  .  . 
These  ignorant  men  rise ;  they  take  heaven  by  force,  and  we  with  our  heartless 
sciences,  behold  we  are  wallowing  in  the  flesh "  (S.  Aug. :  Confessions,  Book 
YIIL,  Chaps.  Yl.-XII.y  The  sequel  of  this  strange  moving  scene  is  well  known. 
Augustine  renounced  his  career  and  the  world,  and  became  the  lending  spirit  of  the 
Church  of  his  day,  the  greatest  teacher  of  the  period  in  which  he  lived ;  in  some 
respects,  after  the  Apostles,  who  had  heard  the  Master's  voice,  the  most  influential 
teacher  of  all  the  Christian  ages. 


512  EARLY    CHBISTIANITY   AXD    PAGANISM. 

teries  for  both  sexes  were  founded  in  Rome  and  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  capital;  from  Rome  the  new 
institution  spread  all  over  Italy.  It  was  fostered,  as  we  have 
remarked,  by  woll-nigh  all  the  leading  spirits  of  the  Church  in 
the  second  half  of  the  fourth  and  early  years  of  the  fifth 
century;  it  was  especially  favoured  in  Gaul  under  the  all- 
powerful  influence  of  Martin,  Bishop  of  Tours.  Sulpicius 
Severus,  his  devoted  friend  and  disciple,  tells  us  how  some  two 
thousand  monks  gathered  found  the  grave  of  the  great  Gallic 
Bishop  and  teacher  when  he  passed  away  in  a.d.  397.  Another 
of  the  leading  Latin  Bishops,  the  saintly  Ambrose  of  Milan, 
who  died  in  the  same  year,  397,  was  one  of  the  warm  supporters 
of  the  movement.  But  among  the  Latin  fathers  of  that  age, 
so  prolific  in  eminent  scholars  and  writers,  perhaps  the  most 
ardent  believer  in  the  new  departure  was  Jerome ;  who  by 
his  writings  and  his  example  did,  perhaps,  more  than  any 
of  his  illustrious  contemporaries  to  advance  and  popularise  this 
new  phase  of  Christianity. 

Under  Augustine,  who  after  his  conversion  (alluded  to  in 
the  note  above)  became  subsequently  Bishop  of  Hippo  and 
the  most  influential  leader  and  adviser  in  the  churches  of  the 
West,  numerous  monasteries  for  both  sexes  multiplied  in  the 
North  African  provinces.  It  was  Augustine  who,  in  the  year 
423,  drew  up  the  famous  monastic  rule  which  bears  his  name. 
This  "  Rule,"  originally  compiled  for  a  monastery  of  women  in 
Hippo  of  which  his  sister  was  Superior,  subsequently  became 
the  fundamental  code  of  an  immense  branch  of  the  monastic 
order  which  for  many  centuries  has  borne  the  honoured  name 
of  Augustine. 

The  new  organisation  came  into  existence  in  the  West 
about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century;  in  the  East,  as  we 
have  seen,  it  arose  a  few  years  earlier.  It  grew  out  of  the 
necessity  of  the  time,  and  was  approved  and  shared  in  by 
the  large  majority  of  the  noblest  professors  of  Christianity. 
We  must  not,  however,  in  our  warm  appreciation  of  the  great 
services  rendered  by  monasticism  to  the  Church,  and  indeed 
to  all  society,  shrink  from  confessing  that  dark  shadows  in 
many  cases  were   not  wanting  in  the  pictures  we  have  been 


AFTER    THE  PEACE   OF  TEE   CEURGTI.  513 

sketching.  Disorder  and  various  abuses  rapidly  crept  in;  the 
monastic  life  was  sometimes  chosen  as  a  pretext  for  idleness, 
as  a  cloak  under  which  life's  ordinary  duties  might  be  evaded. 
But  these  errors  and  flaws  were  recognised  at  a  very  early 
period  and  sternly  denounced  by  the  eminent  Church  leaders 
and  teachers  who  so  earnestly  promoted  the  system  and 
advocated  its  general  adoption  as  the  most  effective  means  of 
breathinof  fresh  life  into  the  Christian  communities.  We  find 
these  stern  reproofs,  these  earnest  warnings,  notably  in  the 
writings  of  Jerome,  Chrysostom,  and  Augustine.  Jerome,  in- 
deed, denounced  with  boldness  and  energy  all  such  idle 
monks,  and  pointed  out  with  scathing  severity  the  faults  and 
dangers  of  the  monastic  mstitution.  Augustine  is  not  behind- 
hand in  his  grave  reproofs  and  jDointed  warnings,  when  he 
dwells  with  an  eloquence  peculiarly  his  own  on  the  high 
motives  of  that  law  of  labour  which  has  ever  remained  the 
glory  and  strength  of  monasticism.* 

Too  much  stress  has  been   laid   by    certain   writers    upon 
some  of  the  tbrms  of  life  adopted  in  the  first  great  outbreak 
of  asceticism,  especially  in  the  East,  where  there  were  many 
eccentric  examples  of  what  may  be   fairly   termed    a   terrible 
self-abnegation ;    the    mstances    of   Simeon    Stylites    and    his 
imitators,    with   their    life-long    awful    penances    and    ghastly 
self-tortures,  are  often  quoted.     Yet  these,  after  all,  were   ex- 
ceptions, and  such  examples  found  comparatively  few  imitators 
in    the   West,      Nay,  even   the   unnatural   life-work   of    these 
earnest  though    mistaken    enthusiasts   was   not   thrown   away. 
"  Imperfect  and  distorted  as  was  the  ideal  of  the   anchorites, 
deeply,  too,  as  it  was  perverted  by  the  admixture  of  spiritual 
selfishness,  still  the  example     .     .     .     was  not  wholly  lost  upon 
the  world.     .     .     .     The  very  eccentricities  of  their  lives,  their 
uncouth  forms,  their  horrible    penances,  won   the  admhation 
of  rude  men,     .     .     .     Multitudes  of  barbarians  were  converted 
to  Christianity  at  the  sight  of  S.  Simeon  Stylites,"t 

*  Augustine,  Be  Opere  Monachorum,  Cap.  C.  28. 

t  The  words  quoted  are  Mr.  Leckj''s,  Histonj  of  European  Morals,  chap.  iv. 
In   spite  of  his    usual  conspicuous    fairness,   Mr.   Lecky    generally    underrates 
monasticism  and  fails  to  give  it  the  place  it  emphatically  possesses  in  the  story  of 
Christianity;  hence  the  importance  of  the  above  conclusion 
H  H 


514  EARLY    CEBISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

Even  in  its  earliest  days  the  monastic  development  ol 
Christianity  was  far  from  being  opposed  or  even  indifferent  to 
learning.  We  have  dwelt  above  on  the  comparative  fewness  of 
the  ascetics,  such  as  Simeon  Stylites,  whose  extreme  austerities 
necessarily  separated  them  entirely  from  ordinary  human  life, 
its  possibilities  and  its  thoughts;  and  we  have  justly  judged 
their  ideals  as  something  extravagant  and  excessive,  although 
not  without  their  influence  upon  the  dissolute  and  thought- 
less world  of  those  days  and  times.  Ordinary  monastic  life, 
however,  even  in  the  East,  included,  as  part  of  its  invariable 
rule,  useful  work  of  varied  kinds.  Each  monastery  was  a 
great  school  of  labour;  and  to  simply  manual  labour  the 
monks  united  the  cultiu-e  of  the  mind,  and  especially  the  study 
of  sacred  literature.  It  was  from  among  their  ranks  that  the 
most  learned  and  successful  adversaries  of  the  greatest  and 
most  dangerous  heresy  that  has  ever  appeared  were  drawn. 
The  monk,  as  a  rule,  was  the  deadly  foe  of  Arianism,  Augus- 
tine, in  his  De  Opere  Monachorum,  dwells  upon  the  regular 
work  of  the  monastics,  who  divided  their  day  between  manual 
labour,  reading,  and  prayer. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century,  to  take  well  known 
and  conspicuous  examples,  the  famous  houses  of  Lerins,^  of 
S.  Victor  of  Marseilles,  and  scarcel}"-  later,  of  Condat  in  the 
Jura,  were  famous  far  and  wide  as  houses  of  great  learning, 
as  well  as  seminaries  of  instruction,  Avhere  their  inmates  led 
the  austere  and  saintly  life  which  monasticism  pressed  upon 
those  who  voluntarily  took  on  them  its  obligations  and  duties, 
and  at  the  same  time  pursued  their  various  studies. 

*  Lerins  was  a  little  island  in  the  roadstead  of  the  modern  Toulon.  The 
religious  house  was  founded  circa  a.d.  410,  and  speedily  hecame  a  great  and  cele- 
brated school,  not  merely  of  theology  but  of  general  literature.  In  this  monastery 
many  of  the  most  illustrious  bishops  and  teachers  in  the  fifth  century  received 
heir  training ;  with  it  the  names  of  Salvian  and  Vincent  of  Lerins,  the  first 
controversialist  of  his  age,  are  closely  connected.  The  CoiiimonitoriiitH  of 
Vincent  the  Monk  of  Lerins  has  been  read  and  studied  for  more  than  fourteen 
ci'nturies.  The  monastery  of  S.  Victor  at  Marseilles  rivalled  Lerins  in  importance. 
It  contained,  it  is  said,  as  many  as  5,000  monks,  and  was  a  famous  theological 
seminary  all  through  the  fifth  century.  Condat,  in  the  Jura,  was  another  of  these 
very  early  monastic  homes  of  learning — learning  by  no  means  confined  to  theology. 
It  became  one  of  the  most  renowned  seminaries  of  the  East  Gallic  province. 


AFTER    THE   PEACE   OF    THE   CHURCH.  515 

Before  the  close  of  the  fifth  century  this  new  departure 
in  Christian  Hfe  and  work,  which  commenced  a  very  few 
years  after  the  peace  of  the  Church  and  the  general  adoption 
of  Christianity  by  the  Empire  in  the  first  half  of  the  fourth 
century,  had  permeated  the  whole  life  of  the  Christian  com- 
munities. Very  large  indeed  was  the  number  of  monastics 
in  the  various  provinces  now  completely  under  the  power  of 
the  barbarian  invaders.  The  great  need,  however,  in  the  new 
organisation  was  for  some  acknoAvledged  discipline  and  order. 

In  the  East  the  rule  of  S.  Basil  was  largely  acknowledged, 
but  many  diversities  prevailed.  In  the  West  the  want  of  a 
recognised  order  was  even  more  marked.  This  lack  of  an 
established  rule  Avas  supplied  through  the  energy  of  a  remark- 
able man  who  appeared  in  Italy  at  this  juncture,  Benedict, 
whose  life  dates  from  a.d.  480  to  a.d.  543.  This  Benedict 
succeeded  in  impressing  his  views  of  discipline  and  order 
upon  a  number  of  the  Italian  monastic  houses,  and  gradually 
his  "  Rule "  was  accepted  by  the  majority  at  least  of  Western 
monasteries. 

Under  the  new  conditions  of  order  and  discipline  devised 
by  him,  monasticism  continued  to  grow  in  numbers  and 
influence,  rendering  to  the  human  race  during  the  long  drawn 
out  period  of  stress  and  storm  which  followed,  services  which 
can  scarcely  be  overstated. 

Looking  back  from  the  vantage  ground  of  the  experience 
of  many  centuries,  we  are  in  a  position  fairly  to  weigh  these 
services  which  the  monastics  have  rendered  to  civilisation. 
Here  one  voice  proceeds  from  the  cool  judgment  of  the 
philosophic  essayist,  and  from  the  somewhat  passionate 
enthusiasm  of  the  Roman  Catholic  historian;  the  one  not 
unbiassed  by  an  aversion  to  the  system,  the  other  influenced 
by  his  admiration  for  the  mysticism  which  more  or  less 
colours  the  works  and  days  of  all  monasticism. 

These  services  can  only  be  characterised  as  immense,  and 
as  continuing  during  a  long  period  of  well-nigh  universal 
desolation  and  confusion  stretching  over  some  six  or  seven 
centuries. 


516  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

The  lite  of  a  monk,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  an  ex- 
ceptional life ;  its  advocates  never  taught  that  it  should  be 
the  common  life  of  men  and  women;  there  was  never  any 
idea  of  transforming  the  entire  universe  into  a  cloister ;  the 
conception  was  that  "  by  the  side  of  the  storms  and  failures 
of  the  world  there  should  be  a  home,  a  refuge,  a  school  of 
peace  and  strength  apart  from  the  world,  .  .  .  These  monks 
were  ever  men  of  prayer  and  penitence,  but  they  did  not 
limit  themselves  to  prayer  and  penitence.."  They  busied 
themselves  in  the  practical  work  of  life  besides.  In  the  first 
place  they  were  pre-eminently  agriculturists.  Not  only  were 
the  farm  lands  immediately  adjacent  to  the  religious  houses 
admirably  cultivated,  but  vast  tracts  of  country,  which  owing 
to  the  long-continued  state  of  anarchy  and  confusion  had 
become  once  more  marsh  land  or  forest  land,  were  brought 
back  to  a  condition  of  high  cultivation. 

In  every  department  of  agricultural  life  the  monk  was  dis- 
tinguished— vineyards,  corn  lands,  pastures,  orchards,  just  to 
name  a  few  examples,  were  restored  or  introduced  in  all  the 
provinces  of  the  desolated  Empire.  It  is  difficult  to  trace  the 
history  of  a  well-cultivated  estate  or  district  to  any  source 
save  to  these  cloistered  settlers.  Nor  was  their  work  in  literatwre, 
in  its  many  departments,  of  less  value.  We  have  already 
alluded  to  the  regulations  respecting  reading  and  study, 
which  formed  an  invariable  and  important  part  of  the  earliest 
monastic  rules  in  the  East  and  in  the  West ;  and  when  the 
old  life  of  the  Roman  Empire  had  literally  "  gone  under "  as 
the  barbarian  flood  spread  over  the  unhappy  provinces,  it 
was  in  the  monasteries  alone  that  the  great  works  of  antiquity 
were  preserved.  A  favourite  occupation  of  the  monk  was 
the  copying,  in  a  more  or  less  elaborate  fashion,  the  writings 
of  the  poets,  philosophers,  and  historians  which  had  charmed 
the  citizens  of  the  great  Empire  between  the  days  of  Augustus 
and  Theodosius. 

The  care  of  the  monks  here,  although,  perhaps,  especially 
devoted  to  sacred  and  ecclesiastical  literature,  was  by  no 
means   confined   to    works   of  the   Christian   school,   but    was 

*  Montalembert,  Mo7iks  of  the   West,  Book  III. 


AFTER   THE  PEACE   OF   THE   CHURCH.  517 

extended  over  the  whole  period  of  classic  letters.  For  centuries, 
too,  the  monk  was  the  only  teacher*  and  instructor,  and  learn- 
ing of  all  kinds  was  exclusively  confined  to  these  homes  of 
prayer,  so  plentifully  scattered  over  the  provinces  of  the 
barbarian-harassed  Empire.  The  charge  of  Jerome  at  the 
close  of  the  fourth  century,  "  that  a  monk  should  always  have 
a  book  in  his  hand  or  under  his  eyes,"  f  was  faithfully  ob- 
served in  a  thousand  religious  houses.  From  the  first,  well- 
nigh  every  monastery  possessed  its  library,  great  or  small, 
and  as  time  advanced  many  of  these  became  famous  for  the 
number  and  value  of  the  volumes  they  contained. 

In  the  great  ruin  which  in  the  fifth  and  following  cen- 
turies overtook  the  Empire,  it  seemed  well-nigh  certain  that, 
under  the  rough  and  destructive  barbarian  rule,  all  art  in 
its  various  departments  would  surely  decay  and  die.  Here 
again,  the  network  of  monastic  institutions  at  first  preserved 
the  poor  remnant  of  the  many-sided  artistic  crafts,  and  sub- 
sequently developed  and  even  gave  them  a  new  colouring. 

As  early  as  the  first  years  of  the  sixth  century,  Benedict 
(a.d.  480-543),  the  great  organiser  of  these  houses,  in  his  famous 
rule  provided  for  artistic  work  being  carried  on  in  his  cloister. J 
Very  soon  the  more  important  religious  houses  contained,  in 
addition  to  schools  and  libraries,  studios  and  workrooms  where 
painting,  mosaic  work,  sculpture,  engraving,  ivory  carving, 
bookbinding,  and  the  arts  of  the  goldsmith  and  of  the  jeweller, 
were  studied  and  practised. 

A  great  impulse  Avas  given  to  these  various  art  industries 
by  the  monk  Cassiodorus,  the  once  famous  statesman,  a  con- 
temporary of  Benedict.  All  through  the  darkest  ages  of  the 
history  of  the  world,  a  period  covering  the  sixth  and  the  four 
following  centuries,  elaborate  and  even  exquisite  works  of  art 

*  Schools  from  the  fifth  century  onward  were  estabHshed  in  the  chief  monastic 
centres,  as  well  as  frequently  in  many  of  the  smaller  communities.  Alcuin, 
writing  of  the  monastic  school  of  York  at  the  end  of  the  eighth  century,  tells  us 
that  besides  the  Holy  Scriptures,  grammar,  rhetoric,  jurisprudence,  poetry, 
astronomy,  mathematics,  etc.,  were  taught  there. 

t  "  Nunquam  de  manu  et  oculis  recedat  liber.''— ^^;f*i;.  ad  Rustic,  S.  Jerome. 

X  "  Artifices  si  sunt  in  monasterio,  cum  omni  humilitate  et  reverentia  faciant 
ipt-as  artes,  si  permiserit  abbas." — S.  Benedict,  C.  57. 


518  EARLY  CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

were  produced  in  the  religious  houses  of  the  West,  while  the 
stately  Romanesque  was  revived,  and  subsequently  the  Gothic, 
schools  of  architecture  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  gradually 
developed  in  the  lonely  islands  of  prayer,  whose  strange  rise 
we  have  been  sketching  in  outline. 

How  successful  the  monk  had  been  in  his  unwearied 
artistic  toil  in  these  gloomy  centuries  of  confusion  and  anarchy 
is  admirably  phrased  in  a  gentle  though  grave  rebuke  of  an 
eleventh  century  abbot  to  his  brethren,  when  he  warned  them 
not  to  be  over-attentive  to  these  pursuits  lest  those  higher 
duties,  the  peculiar  glory  of  Christianity  and  the  especial  duty 
of  the  monk,  should  suffer. 

"  It  matters  little  that  our  churches  rise  to  heaven,  that  the 
capitals  of  their  pillars  are  sculptured  and  gilded,  that  our 
parchment  is  tinted  purple,  that  gold  is  melted  to  form  the 
letters  of  our  manuscripts,  and  that  their  bindings  are  set 
with  precious  stones,  if  we  have  little  or  no  care  for  the 
members  of  Christ,  and  if  Christ  himself  lies  naked  and  dying 
before  our  doors."  * 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  services  rendered  by  monastics  to 
society  during  a  long  and  terrible  period  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  It  seems  indeed  scarcely  probable  that  the  great 
Christian  Doctors  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  much  as 
they  admired  and  encouraged  the  monastic  spirit,  ever  dreamed 
of  a  future  of  such  a  paramount  and  far-reaching  influence  for 
the  groups  of  self-denying  solitaries  who  arose  out  of  the  sore 
needs  of  the  Church,  weakened  and  wounded  strangely  enough 
by  the  very  magnitude  and  suddenness  of  her  decisive  victory 
over  Paganism. 

The  task  I  set  m3'self  is  done.  How  often  in  the  silence  of 
night,  under  the  roof  of  the  old  dwelling  house  of  the  Deans 
of  Gloucester,  the  ancient  home  of  the  lono-  line  of  Abbots 
and  Priors  of  the  once  famous  Benedictine  Abbey,  in  which  the 
foregoing  pages  have  been  mostly  written,  have  I  fancied  that 
I  saw  around  me  the  imposing  procession  of  teachers,  martyrs, 

*  "  Flores  Epitaphii  Sanctorum  apud  Mabillon."  Ann.  I.,  Ixxi.,  No.  23 
(quoted  by  Montaleinbert). 


AFTER   THE  PEACE   OF   THE   CHUBGH.  519 

and  saints  whose  life  story  I  have  endeavoured  to  tell.  My 
work  has  been  no  panegyric,  not  even  an  apologia ;  the  faults 
and  weaknesses  which  too  often  scarred  the  heroic  lives  of 
the  brave  confessors  of  the  Faith  have  not  been  slurred  over, 
the  divisions  and  bitter  schisms  which  divided  the  Christians 
even  in  the  days  of  persecution  have  been  faithfully  though 
sorrowfully  recorded.  It  has  been  a  simple,  truthful  tale — nothing 
more.  But  how  often,  as  I  read  over  my  narratives  of  one  or 
other  of  the  stirring  or  pathetic  incidents  which  make  up  the 
wondrous  epic  of  Christian  life  in  the  age  of  persecutions,  have 
I  felt  that  mine  was  only  "  a  cold  and  sad  pen  after  all,"  quite 
unworthy  of  the  beautiful,  difficult  task  I  had  set  myself.  My 
hope  is  that  my  work  will  please  others  more  than  it  has 
succeeded  in  pleasing  the  writer — my  prayer,  that  the  reader 
at  least  may  be  as  intensely  persuaded  as  is  the  writer,  of  the 
awful  reality  of  the  stern,  long  drawn-out  conflict  between 
Christianity  and  Paganism,  of  the  Ever  Presence,  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Christian  combatants,  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  and 
His  Christ. 


521 


APPENDIX    A. 


EMPERORS    OF    ROME. 

(CHAPTERS    I. -XIII.) 


Julius  C«sar,  Perpetual  Dictator 

,,  ,,       assassinated   ... 

Octavianus  Ciesar  (Augustus) 

A.D. 

Tiberius    ...          ...          ...  14 

Caligula    ...          ...          ...  nl 

Claudius    ...          ...          ...  41 

Nero          ...          ...          ...  54 

Galba         68 

Otho          G9 

Vitellius 09 

Vespasian...          ...          ...  G9 

Titus         79 

Domitian  ...          ...          ...  ISI 

Nerva        ...          ...          ...  96 

Trajan       98 

Hadrian 117 

Antoninus  Pius    ...          ,..  138 
Marcus     Aurelius     Anto- 
ninus    ...          ...          ...  161 

Comniodus            ...          ...  180 

Pertinax  ...          ...          ...  193 

Septimius  Severus            ...  193 

Caracalla  and  Geta           ...  211 

Macrinus  ...          ...          ...  217 


B.C. 

. 

..        48 

. 

..       44 



..       27 

A.D. 

Elagabalus 

..     218 

Alexander  Severus 

222 

Maximinus 

.     235 

Gordian  (and  liis  son) 

.     237 

Maximus  and  Balbinus   . 

.     237 

Gordian  (the  younger)     . 

.     238 

Philip  (the  Arabian) 

.     244 

Decius 

.     249 

Gallus        

.     251 

^milianus 

.     253 

Valerian    ... 

.     253 

Gallienus    (the     "  Thirty 

)) 

Pretenders)  ... 

.     260 

Claudius  II.  (Gothicus)  . 

.     268 

Aurelian   ... 

.     270 

Tacitus 

.     275 

Probus 

.     276 

Cams 

.     282 

Carinus  and  Numerian    . 

.     283 

Diocletian 

.     284 

522 


EARLY    CHIilSTIANITY   AXD    PAGANISM. 


The  Associated  Emperors  under  the  Constitution  of 
Diocletian. 

(chapters    XIV. -XVII.) 


A.D. 

286 


1st  Group  of  Emperors  :  Diocletian — Maximian  ... 

2nd         ,,  ,,  Diocletian — Maximian — Galerius — Con- 

stantius  Chlorus        ...  ...  ...     292 

3rcl         „  „  Galerius — Constantius  Chlorus — Severus 

— Maximin-Daia       ...  ...  ...     305 

4th.         „  „  Galerius — Licinius — Constantine — Max- 

entius — Maximian — Maximin-Daia    306-7 
5th         „  „  Constantine — IJcinius   ...  ...  ...      312 


Constantine  (sole  Emperor) 
(^Constant  i  ics  ■  <  i 

on  the   death  i  Sons  and  sue-  j  Constantine  II.    Died  340 
"  of  his  brothers  ,     cessors  of        Constantius    ...  I     ,,      361. 

became      sole  j   Constantine.    |  Constans         ...  I     „      350. 

Emperor.)        J 


Valens(East)...     364 
Theodosius  the  Great     379 


Julian 
Jovian    ... 
Valentinian  (West) 
Gratian  ) 

Valentinian   II.  J 
Theodosius  the  Great  (sole  Emperor) 


Arcadius  (East) 
Theodosius  II. 


395  Honorius  (West) 

408  Died  423  (a.d.). 


323 
337 


361 
363 
364 

367 
392 
395 


THE    SEE    OF    ROME. 

[m.  signifies  Martyr.] 


S.  Peter  and    S.   Paul 
(Martyrs) ... 
m.     Linus 
m.     Anencletus  ... 
m.  ?  Clement 
m.     Evaristus 
m.     Alexander     . , , 


?rt. 

Sixtus 

67-8 

m. 

Telesphorus 

67 

Hyginus 

78 

m. 

Pius  ... 

91 

Anicetus 

100 

m. 

Soterus 

109 

Eleutherus 

A.D. 
119 

128 
139 
142 
157 
168 
176 


APPENDIX  A. 


523 


THE    SEE    OF     RO:Sl'E.— continued. 

[m,  signifies  Martyr.] 


A.n. 

A.D. 

m.     Victor 

..      192 

m. 

Eutychianus 

275 

}n.?  Zephyrinus   ... 

..     202 

m. 

?  Gains 

283 

mj  Callistus 

..     219 

m. 

?  Marcellinus 

296 

m.?  Urban 

..     223 

m. 

?  Marcellus 

308 

m.  ?  Pontianus     . . . 

..     230 

in. 

.?  Eusebius 

310 

m.     Anteros 

..     235 

Miltiades 

311 

m.     Fabianus 

..     236 

Silvester 

314 

m.  ?  Cornelius 

..     251 

Marcus 

336 

m.     Lucins 

252 

Julius 

337 

?n.     Stephen 

..     253 

Liberius 

352 

m.     Sixtus  II. 

..     257 

Damasus 

366 

Dionysius 

..     259 

Siricius 

384-398 

m.     Felix 

..     269 

524 


APPENDIX   B. 


THE    PRESENCE    OF    S.    PETER    AT    ROME. 

That  S.  Peter  resided  for  a  considerable  time  at  Rome  in  Ins  later 
life,  and  that  he  suffered  martyrdom  there,  is  now  generally  allowed  by 
the  great  majority  of  scholars,  Anglican  as  well  as  Roman. 

(1)  Early  patristic  testimony  can  scarcely  be  undei'stood  here  to 
bear  any  different  sense. 

a.  Clement  of  Rome,  circa  a.d.  95-6,  in  his  first  undoubtedly 
genuine  epistle,  makes  special  mention  of  Peter  and  Paul,  and  only  of 
Peter  and  Paid,  who,  after  enduring  many  sufferings,  endured  martyr- 
dom. Clement  is  writing  from  the  Roman  Church  to  the  Corinthians  ; 
he  is  calling  attention  to  examples  of  devoted  Christians  who  "  lived 
very  near  to  our  own  times,"  and  without  doubt  he  is  appealing  to 
examples  which  the  Church  of  Rome  had  themselves  witnessed. 
(Clem.,  ad.  Cor.,  c.  25.) 

b.  Ignatius  of  Antioch,  circa  a.d.  107,  writes  to  the  Roman 
Church  :— "  I  do  not  command  you,  like  Peter  and  Paul ;  they  were 
Apostles,  I  am  a  condemned  man  ;  they  were  free,  I  am  a  slave  until 
now."  Why  should  Ignatius  cite  Peter  and  Paul  ?  Why  did  lie  not 
cite  others  (for  instance,  John,  writing  as  he  does  from  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Ephesus,  where  John  so  lately  had  been  the  distinguishing 
personality) ;  had  not  Peter  and  Paul  been  the  Apostles  who,  from 
their  residence  and  aiithority  at  Rome,  would  naturally  carry  most 
weight  with  the  Church  to  which  he  was  writing?     (Ign.,  ad.  Rom.  4.) 

c.  Dionysius  of  Corinth,  circa  a.d.  170,  in  his  letter  to  the  Roman 
Church,  thus  writes  most  definitely  : — "So  also  you  by  3'^our  admoni- 
tions (to  us)  have  joined  together  the  plantation  of  the  Romans  and 
Corinthians  [a  plantation]  which  was  planted  by  Peter  and  Paul ;  for 
they  both  came  to  our  city  of  Corinth  and  taught  us,  and  in  like 
manner  they  went  together  to  Italy,  and,  having  taught  there,  suffered 
martyrdom  about  the  same  time."     (Eusebius,  H.E.,  ii.  25.) 


APPENDIX  B.  525 

d.  Ire'iiceus,  Bishop  of  Lyons,  circa  a.d.  177-90,  equally  clearly 
writes  : — "  Matthew  put  out  also  a  written  gospel  among  the  Hellenes, 
in  tlieir  own  tongue,  while  Peter  and  Paul  were  preaching  and  founding 
the  Church  of  Rome.  And  after  their  departure  (by  death)  Mark,  the 
disciple  and  interpreter  of  Peter,  himself  also  handed  down  to  us  in 
writing  the  lessons  preached  by  Peter."     (Irenseus,  Hccj:  iii.,  i.  1.) 

e.  demerit  of  Alexandria,  circa  a.d.  190-200,  tells  us  "when  Peter 
had  preached  the  word  publicly  in  Rome,"  the  hearers  of  his  preaching 
urged  Mark,  as  having  been  long  his  companion,  and  remembering 
what  he  said,  to  write  out  his  statements.     (Eusebius,  TI.E.,  vi.  14.) 

f.  Tertullian  of  Carthage,  circa  a.d.  200,  writes  in  his  treatise, 
De  Baptis7no  4,  thus  : — "  Nor  does  it  matter  whether  they  are 
among  those  whom  John  baptised  in  the  Jordan,  or  those  whom  Peter 
baptised  in  the  Tiber."  And,  again,  in  his  De  Prcescripiione  32  : — 
"  The  Church  of  the  Romans  reports  that  Clement  (of  Rome)  was 
ordained  by  Peter."  And  yet  more  positively  as  to  detail  in  the  same 
De  Prcescripiione  36  : — "If  thou  art  near  to  Italy  thou  hast  Rome. 
.  .  .  How  happy  is  that  Church  on  which  the  Apostles  shed  all  their 
teaching  with  their  blood,  where  Peter  is  conformed  to  the  passion  of 
the  Lord." 

ff.  Gains,  the  Roman  presbyter,  circa  a.d.  200-20,  thus  claims  for 
the  Roman  Church  the  authority  of  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
whose  martyred  bodies  sleep  in  Rome : — "  But  I  can  show  you  the 
trophies  (the  reliques)  of  the  Apostles ;  for  if  thou  wilt  go  to  the 
Vatican  or  to  the  Ostian  way  thou  wilt  find  the  trophies  of  those  who 
founded  this  Church."     (Eusebius,  ff.E.,  ii.  25.) 

h.  LactaMtius,  circa  A.D.  306: — "He  disclosed  to  them  all  things 
which  Peter  and  Paul  preached  at  Rome,  and  their  preaching  remained 
in  writing  for  a  record,"  etc.     (Lactantius,  Instit.  Div.,  iv.  21.) 

That  Peter  perished  in  the  course  of  the  persecution  of  the  Emperor 
Nero  is  the  universal  tradition.  His  two  canonical  epistles  were,  no 
doubt,  written  at  this  period.  The  first  epistle,  which  was  very 
generally  used  in  the  earliest  times,  was  e^'idently  composed  in  a 
season  of  bitter  persecution. 

The  burden  of  this  writmg  is  the  consolation  and  encouragement  ot 
some  distant  communities  of  Christians  under  the  fiery  trial  which  lay 
before  them.  Now,  the  Neronian  persecution  was  not  by  any  means, 
we  know,  confined  to  Rome.  It  raged  in  far-away  provinces.  The 
salutation  at  the  close  (v.  13)  runs  thus: — "The  (Church  that  is) 
at  Babylon,  elected  together  with  (you)  saluteth  you."  By  Babylon 
the  Fathers  universally  understood  Rome  ;  for  it  could  not  be  the 
Egyptian  Babylon  which  was  a  mere  obscure  fortress,  a  place  utterly 


526  EARLY    GEELSTIANITY   AND   PAGANISM. 

unknown  to  Christian  history  and  tradition.  It  could  not  have  been 
the  well-known  Babylon,  because,  at  the  time  when  Peter  wrote,  that 
once  great  city  was  ruined  and  deserted,  nor  is  there  any  vestige  of  a 
tradition  connecting  Babylon  with  Peter.  The  vast  majority  of 
modern  scholars  follow  the  interpretation  of  the  Fathers — as,  for 
instance,  Lardner,  Alford,  Lightfoot,  and  Farrar ;  and  a  famous  writer 
of  a  very  different  school,  Eenan,  in  his  "Antichrist,"  writes  thus  of  the 
term  Babylon:  "  iVo/zi  dont  la  signification  symholique  n'echappait  ct 
personne."     These  symbolic  names  are  very  usual  in  the  Talmud. 

But  while  Peter's  residence  at  Rome  during  the  latter  years  of  his 
life,  and  his  martyrdom  in  that  great  city  in  the  course  of  the  Neronian 
persecution,  are  looked  upon  by  well-nigh  all  schools  of  thought  as 
historic  facts,  the  tradition  of  his  presence  at  Rome,  and  of  his  teaching 
there,  at  an  earlier  period,  is  much  disputed.  Roman  Catholic  writers, 
however,  appear  to  have  no  doubts  on  the  point ;  and  though  doctrinal 
reasons  would  influence  their  judgment,  still  the  fair  historian  cannot 
fail  to  see  that  much  can  be  said  in  support  of  their  contention. 
Amongst  others,  the  following  arguments  in  favour  of  the  earlier  visit 
of  Peter  to  Rome,  and  of  his  "twenty-five  years'  episcopate"  are 
urged.  It  will  be  seen  that  some  of  them  at  least  rest  upon  historic 
testimony. 

a.  The  Nerv  Testament. — In  Acts  xii.  1-17  we  read  how  "at  this 
time  Herod  the  king  stretched  forth  his  hands  to  vex  certain  of  the 
church.  And  he  killed  James  the  brother  of  John  with  the  sword, 
and,  seeing  that  it  pleased  the  Jews,  he  proceeded  further  to  take  Peter 
also."  Then  follows  the  story  of  the  miraculous  delivery  of  the  Apostle 
from  prison,  and  of  his  decision  at  once  to  place  himself  in  safety 
beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  Herod.  "He  departed,"  Ave  read,  "and 
went  into  another  place."  No  mention,  indeed,  occurs  of  Rome  or  of 
any  other  city  as  the  goal  of  his  journey.  But  the  constant  repetition 
of  the  scene  of  the  arrest  of  Peter  by  Herod's  soldiers  on  Roman 
sarcophagi  of  the  fourth  century  (there  are  some  twenty  examples  now 
in  the  Lateran  Museum)  show  us  unmistakably  how  deeply  rooted  at 
Rome  was  the  tradition  of  the  close  connection  between  the  Apostle's 
first  coming  to  Rome  and  the  arrest  and  the  miraculous  deliverance 
from  the  prison  of  Herod. 

b.  Jerome,  whose  close  connection  with  Damasus — the  earnest 
restorer  of  so  many  of  the  sacred  tombs  round  Rome  in  the  catacombs, 
who  was  Pope  a.d.  366-.384 — gave  him  rare  opportunities  for  accurate 
investigation,  explicitly  tells  us  how  Simon  Peter  came  to  Rome  in  the 
second  year  of  the  Emperor  Claudius,  a.d.  42. 

c.  We  can  trace  certainly  as  far  back  as  the  fourth  century  in  the 


APPENDIX  B.  -  527 

Roman  calendars  of  the  Church  two  feasts  in  connection  with  the 
veneration  of  the  Chairs  of  S.  Peter,  the  one  on  January  18th,  the 
other  on  February  22ncl.  At  the  latter  of  these  the  chair  now  at  the 
Vatican  was  venerated.  But  what  of  the  other  1  It  seems  unmistak- 
ably to  point  to  a  very  early  tradition  that  there  was  another  chair  of 
the  Apostle,  the  object  of  pilgrimage  and  veneration. 

Recent  archaeological  investigation  has  revealed  to  us,  almost  with 
certainty,  that  this  "  other  chair  "  existed  in  the  very  ancient  Ostrian 
cemetery,  discovered  in  the  Via  Salaria  Nova.  This  chair,  evidently  a 
venerable  and  precious  relic,  did  not,  like  the  well-known  one  in  the 
Vatican,  symbolise  Peter's  primacy,  but  it  did  symbolise  his  first 
coming  to  Rome.  Of  its  existence  and  preservation  in  the  Ostrian 
cemetery  in  the  sixth  century,  we  have  a  remarkable  testimony  in  the 
papyrus  MS.  at  Monza,  which  contains  a  list  by  Abbot  John  of  "  holy 
oils "  collected  by  him  from  sacred  shrines  for  the  Lombard  Queen 
Theodolinda,  circa  a.d.  590.  (These  "holy  oils"  were  taken  from 
lamps  kept  burning  in  front  of  celebrated  shrines.)  The  memorandum 
mentions  how  he  obtained  (amongst  other  reliques)  oil  from  the  lamp 
burning  in  front  of  the  chair  where  Peter  "  first  sat"  {prius  sedit)  in 
the  Ostrian  cemetery  in  the  Via  Salaria.* 

This  cemetery  on  the  Via  Salaria  Nova  has,  by  recent  discoveries, 
been  clearly  identified. 

d.  The  testimony  of  the  early  Papal  lists  supports  in  a  very  marked 
way  the  ancient  tradition  of  the  presence  of  S.  Peter  at  Rome  at  a 
period  long  anterior  to  the  accepted  date  of  a.d.  62. 

The  Papal  list  given  by  Irenseus,  circa  a.d.  170-90  {contra 
HcBr.,  iii.  3,  3)  simply  states  that  the  Roman  Church  was  "founded 
and  organised  by  the  two  most  glorious  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul,"  and 
that  "  those  blessed  Apostles  committed  into  the  hands  of  Linus  the 
ofiice  of  the  Episcopate."  Irenseus  then  enumerates  the  Roman  suc- 
cession of  bishops  from  Linus. 


*  There  was  evidently  a  confusion  in  the  minds  of  the  editors  of  the  Martyr- 
ologies,  from  the  eighth  century  downwards,  on  the  point  of  the  "  two  chairs  "  of 
S.  Peter,  for  the  22nd  February  is  marked  as  the  Feast  of  the  "  Cathedra  S.  Peter 
in  Antioch,"  but  De  Rossi  points  out  that  no  ancient  document  prior  to  the  eighth 
century  makes  any  allusion  to  Antioch  in  connection  with  the  Feast  of  February 
22nd.  The  reason  of  this  eighth  centmy  emendation  is,  no  doubt,  that  the  scribes 
who  copied  the  ancient  Roman  Calendar,  finding  the  18th  January  marked  as 
"  Cathedra  S.  Petri  qua  primum  Eomjc  sedit,"  and  not  understanding  why  another 
feast  of  S.  Peter's  chair  at  Home  should  be  kept  on  February  22nd,  inserted  after 
February  22nd  the  words  "  aptid  Antiochemm,"  to  explain  what  they  thought  was 
a  diflBculty. 


528  EARLY   GERISTIANITYi^AND    I'AGANISM. 

In  the  Eusebian  lists  *  of  Roman  bishops,  S.  Peter  appears  as  having 
presided  over  the  Roman  Church  in  one  list  for  twenty  years,  in 
another  for  twenty-five.  In  the  table  of  Filocalus,  a  famous  cali- 
grapher  best  known  in  connection  with  the  inscriptions  set  up  in 
the  catacombs  by  Pope  Damasus,  S.  Peter's  duration  of  rule  as  bishop 
of  the  Roman  Church  is  given  as  twenty-five  years.  This  ancient  list 
of  Filocalus  (a.d.  354)  is  usually  known  as  the  "  Liberian,"  Pope 
Liberius'  name  closing  it. 

The  "  twenty-five "  years  of  S.  Peter's  rule  is  repeated  again  in 
the  Liber  Pontificalis,  sometimes,  but  mistakenly,  called  "The  Lives 
of  the  Pontiffs,"  which,  although  originally  dating  from  the  beginning 
of  the  sixth  century,  is  probably  based  largely  on  older  materials. 

This  persistent  tradition  of  an  episcopacy  lasting  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  years  does  not,  in  the  opinion  of  Roman  Catholic  writers,  preclude 
the  acceptance  of  an  absence  of  .S.  Peter  from  Rome  during  part  of 
this  time.  They  maintain  that  he  first  visited  Rome  circa  a.d.  42, 
and  from  this  date  onwards  till  his  death  exercised  a  general  control 
in  that  Church. 

e.  Certain  references  in  8.  Paul's  epistles  to  the  Ptomans  have  been 
quoted  (notably  by  Bishop  Lightfoot,  Clement  of  Rome,  Vol.  ii., 
pp.  491  and  497)  as  incompatible  with  the  theory  of  the  earlier  .^dsit  of 
S.  Peter  to  Rome,  and  the  long  connection  of  the  elder  Apostle  with 
that  great  church.  The  reference  dwelt  on  especially  is  Rom.  xv. 
19-24.  Now  the  passage,  it  has  been  pointed  out,  will  bear  an  exactly 
opposite  interpretation  to  the  one  suggested  by  Lightfoot ;  for  in  it 
S.  Paul  tells  us  that,  although  for  years  it  had  been  one  of  his  great 
desires  to  see  Rome,  yet  he  had  abstained  from  going  there  precisely 
because  it  was  ttot  virgin  soil — "lest  I  should  build  upon  another  man's 
foundation." 

What  is  clearly  proved  is  that  by  the  fourth  century  the  tradition 
was  established,  and  apparently  undisputed. 

To  sum  the  matter  up :  The  presence  and  preaching  of  S.  Peter 
at  Ptome  between  a.d.  62  and  67  cannot  be  doubted;  and  that  the 
great  Apostle  suffered  martyrdom  in  that  city  during  the  Neronian 
persecution,  probably  in  the  latter  days  of  that  awful  period,  is  also 
well-nigh  certain.  That  he  visited  and  preached  at  an  earlier  period, 
and  continued  to  exercise  a  kind  of  presidency  over  the  Roman  Christian 
community— a  presidency  generally  referred  to  as  the  twenty-five  years' 

*  These  lists  are  contained  in  the  Chronicle  of  Eusebius.  In  the  Ai-menian 
version  the  period  of  twenty  years  is  named ;  in  the  Latin  version  of  S.  Jerome, 
twenty-five. 


<  > 


APrENDIX    B.  5-29 

episcopate — is  and  must  remain,  with  the  materials  of  history  we  now 
possess,  open  to  question.  AVe  can  only  affirm  with  certainty  that  the 
tradition  was  thoroughly  established  and  apparently  undisputed  in  the 
fourth  century. 

The  oldest  tradition  in  the  Liber  Pontijicalis  relates  that  nine  of 
the  immediate  successors  of  Peter  were  buried  in  the  Vatican  Crypt ; 
the  names  are  given.  After  S.  Victor,  a.d.  202,  the  Papal  Crypt  in 
the  Catacomb  of  S.  Callistus  became  the  usual  burying  place  of  the 
Popes.  The  same  authority  tells  us  that  the  Emperor  Oonstantine 
enclosed  the  stone  coffin  which  contained  the  body  of  the  blessed  Peter, 
in  bronze,  and  then  built  up  the  whole  with  solid  masonry  (but  appa- 
rently leaving  the  space  actually  above  the  loculus  or  coffin  to  the 
ceiling,  free) ;  upon  the  coffin  Constantine  placed  a  cross  of  pure  gold, 
weighing  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 

In  A.D.  1594,  in  the  course  of  the  works  which  were  being  cai-riedon 
in  the  new  basilica,  the  ground  gave  way,  and  through  the  opening  Pope 
Clement  VIII.  and  the  Cardinals  Bellarmine,  Sfondrato  and  Antoniano, 
with  the  help  of  a  torch,  could  see  the  golden  cross  inscribed  with  the 
names  of  Constantine  and  Helena.  The  aperture  was  immediately  filled 
up  with  cement,  in  the  presence  of  the  Pope  himself. 

In  A.D.  1615,  when  Pope  Paul  V.  (Borghesi)  was  building  the  stairs 
leading  to  the  Confession  of  S.  Peter  and  the  Crypts,  the  workmen 
employed  came  upon  the  crypt  containing  the  graves  of  the  early 
Bishops  of  Rome  buried  "i?i  Vaticano."  One  of  the  coffins  bore  the 
name  LINVS  who,  according  to  the  Liber  Pontijicalis,  had  been 
originally  buried  by  the  side  of  Peter.  The  plan  we  have  given  of  this 
most  sacred  spot  was  drawn  by  Benedetto  Drei,  clerk  of  the  works  in 
S.  Peter's,  an  eye-witness  of  the  discoveries  made  at  that  time.  (The 
plan  was  published  in  a.d.  1635.)  It  is  an  invaluable  record  of  what 
lies  beneath  the  Mother  Church  of  Christianity.  It  is  exceedingly  rare. 
The  engraving  we  have  given  is  from  a  copy  in  the  British  Museum 
Library.  The  Sarcophagus  of  S.  Peter  was  presumably  in  the  centre ; 
its  position  in  the  picture  is  a  little  above  the  words  "  Sacratissima 
Confessione."  It  is,  however,  completely  concealed  by  the  solid 
masonry  of  Constantine  above  alluded  to. 

Only  a  few  years  later,  in  a.d.  1626,  when  the  vast  foundations  of 
the  enormous  Baldachino,  erected  by  Pope  Urban  VIII.  (Bai'berini), 
were  being  constructed,  the  crypt  above  described  was  again  seen  and 
examined,  and  generally  the  details  which  Drei's  map  revealed  were 
substantiated.  Many  particulars  concerning  the  wonderful  things 
which  were  then  seen  are  given  in  the  account  which  was  written  down 
I  I 


530  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

at  the  time  by  Ubaldi,  a  Canou  of  the  great  Basilica  of  S.  Peter's — 
whose  narrative,  long  forgotten  and  hidden  in  the  archives  of  the 
Vatican,  has  been  comparatively  recently  brought  to  light,  transcribed 
and  published  by  Professor  Armellini  in  his  book  Le  Chiese  di  Roma. 
An  English  translation  of  Ubaldi's  record  is  given  by  Barnes  in  his 
exhaustive  and  scholarly  work,  S.  Peter  in  Rome  and  his  Tomb  on  the 
Vatican  Hill  (London,  1900). 

From  Ubaldi's  memoranda  it  would  seem  that  a  more  thorough 
examination  of  that  sacred  crypt  was  made,  viz.  in  a.d.  1626,  than  the 
somewhat  earlier  one  represented  in  Drei's  plan,  and  that  many  more 
interments  were  discovered  besides  those  indicated  by  Drei.  One  very 
remarkable  passage  of  Ubaldi  runs  as  follows  :  "Almost  at  the  level  of 
the  pavement,  there  was  found  a  coffin  made  of  fine  and  large  slabs  of 
marble.  .  .  .  This  coffin  was  placed,  just  as  were  the  others  which 
were  found  on  the  other  side  within  the  circle  of  the  presbytery,  in  such 
a  manner  that  they  were  all  directed  towards  the  altar,  like  spokes 
towards  the  centre  of  a  wheel.  Hence,  it  was  evident  vv-ith  how  much 
reason  the  place  merited  the  name  of  the  Council  of  Martyrs. 
These  bodies  surrounded  S.  Peter  just  as  they  would  have  done,  when 
livinfr,  at  a  Council." 


APPENDIX     C. 


ON  THE  AUTHENTICITY  OF  THE  SEVEN  EPISTLES  AND 
THE   ACTS    OF   MARTYRDOM   OF   S.    IGNATIUS. 

SECTION     I. THE    SEVEN    EPISTLES. 

The  letters  of  S.  Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antioch  in  Syria,  profess  to 
have  been  Avritten  by  the  saint  as  lie  was  passing  through  Asia  Minor 
on  his  way  to  Rome,  where  he  was  to  suffer  death  by  exposure  to  tlie 
wild  beasts  in  the  public  amphitheatre.  The  date  of  the  writings  is 
commonly  given  as  a.d.  107  to  a.d.  110.  The  letters  that  are  now 
generally  accepted  by  scholars  as  absolutely  authentic  are  seven  in 
number,  tive  of  these  being  addressed  to  different  churches  of  Asia 
Minor,  viz.  to  Ephesus,  Magnesia,  Tralles,  Philadelphia,  and  Smyrna  ; 
one  to  Rome,  and  one  to  the  then  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  Polycarp. 

There  are  three  recensions  of  the  Ignatian  epistles  extant. 

The  first,  or  Longer  form.  This  recension  contains  twelve  epistles. 
Besides  containing  the  seven  letters  above  referred  lo,  it  includes  five 
extra  epistles.  The  form  in  which  the  seven  epistles  are  given  is 
considerably  longer  than  the  accepted  one.  This  recension  is  now 
universally  condemned  by  scholars  as  spurious. 

The  second,  or  Middle  form,  contains  the  seven  epistles  above 
enumerated ;  a  good  deal  of  the  matter  incorporated  in  the  first  or 
longer  form  is  here  omitted.  This  recension  is  sometimes  alluded  to 
as  the  Vossian,  from  the  scholar  Isaac  Voss,  who  in  a.d.  1646  published 
the  first  Greek  edition  of  six  of  the  seven  epistles.  It  is  now  very 
generally  acknowledged  by  scholars  as  genuine. 

The  third,  or  Short  form,  is  represented  only  by  a  Syriac  version, 
which  was  published  for  the  first  time  by  Canon  Cureton  ("West- 
minster) in   1845  from  MSS.  recently  brought  to  the  British  Museum 


532  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

from  the  Nitrian  desert.  This  recension  contains  but  three  epistles, 
viz.  those  addressed  to  Polycarp,  to  the  Ephesians,  and  to  the  Romans, 
and  the  text  of  the  three  epistles  is  also  abbreviated.  In  spite  of  the 
advocacy  of  some  scholars,  this  "  Short  form  "  is  not  now  looked  upon 
as  at  all  representing  the  text  of  the  original  writings  of  Ignatius.  It 
is  evidently  an  abridgment  or  mutilation  of  the  second  or  Middle  form 
of  recension.  Bishop  Lightfoot  considers  a.d.  400,  or  a  few  years 
earlier,  as  a  probable  date  when  this  abridgment  in  the  Syriac  version 
was  first  put  out. 

To  return  to  the  Middle  or  Vossian  Recension.  "  This  text,"  says 
Lightfoot,  "  of  the  seven  epistles  is  assured  to  us  on  testimony  con- 
siderably greater  than  that  of  any  ancient  classical  author,  with  one  or 
two  exceptions." 

This  testimony  we  will  briefly  summarise. 

External  Evidence. — In  the  epistle  of  Polycarp,  which  belongs  to 
the  first  years  of  the  second  century,  we  find  several  unmistakable 
references  to  the  acknowledged  seven  Ignatian  letters.  Irenceus, 
writing  from  fifty  to  seventy  years  later,  quotes  verbatim  from  the 
letter  to  the  Romans,  and  has  references  besides  to  several  others  of 
the  seven  Ignatian  letters.  Some  twenty  years  earlier  than  Irenjieus 
the  letter  of  the  Smyrna  Church  to  the  Pliilomelians,  with  the  account 
of  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp,  shows  an  acquaintance  with  the 
Ignatian  epistles.  Echoes  of  these  letters,  too,  are  found  in  the  Epistle 
of  the  Churches  of  Vienne  and  Lyons,  giving  an  account  of  the 
martyrdoms  in  these  cities.  This  epistle  was  Avritten  circa  a.d.  177. 
Luciaoi,  the  Pagan  satirist,  circa  a.d.  165-170,  in  his  celebrated  satire 
or  romance,  De  Morte  Peregrlni,  evidently  alludes  to  and  apparently 
bases  a  portion  of  his  writing  upon  the  story  of  Ignatius  as  contained 
in  the  seven  epistles. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  third  century  we  find  at  least  two  direct 
quotations  from  the  epistles  to  the  Romans  and  Ephesians  in  the 
writings  of  Oriyen.  The  references  direct  and  indirect  of  these  early 
writers  of  centuries  two  and  three  were  made  exclusively  from  the 
seven  epistles  contained  in  the  second  or  middle  form  of  recension 
only. 

Eusebius  of  Ccesarea,  the  Church  historian  in  the  first  half  of  the 
fourth  century,  gives  us  a  full  and  definite  account  of  the  Ignatian 
letters,  quoting  from  each  of  them,  but  only  from  the  seven  of  this 
recension. 

From  the  age  of  Eusebius  onward — that  is,  from  the  middle  of  the 
fourth  century — "  the  testimony  is  of  the  most  varied  kind.  The 
epistles  of  Ignatius  appear,  whole  or  in  part,  not  only  in  the  original 


APPENDIX    G.  533 

Greek,  but  in  Syriac,  Armenian,  Coptic,  Latin,  etc.  They  are  abridged, 
expanded,  imitated.  .  .  .  No  early  Christian  writing  outside  the 
Canon  of  the  New  Testament  scripture  is  attested  by  witnesses  so  many 
and  so  various.  .  .  .  And  in  this  many-tongued  chorus  there  is  not 
one  dissentient  voice." 

Throughout  the  whole  period  of  Christian  history  before  the 
Reformation  not  a  suspicion  of  their  genuineness  is  breathed  by  friend 
or  foe. 

The  INTERNAL  EVIDENCE  fumished  by  the  seven  epistles  is  equally 
strong. 

Bishop  Lightfoot,  in  his  long  and  exhaustive  treatise,  partitions 
this  internal  evidence  into  five  or  six  groups  : — (1)  The  historical  and 
geographical  circumstances ;  (2)  the  ecclesiastical  conditions ;  (3)  the 
theological  polemics  ;  (4)  the  literary  obligations ;  (5)  the  personality 
of  the  writer  ;  and  (6)  the  style  and  diction  of  the  letters. 

On  the  first  point,  the  historical  surroundings  of  the  famous 
martyrdom,  much  has  been  said  as  to  the  improbability  of  the  long 
journey  from  Antioch  to  the  Roman  amphitheatre.  But  this  is  well 
answered  by  an  investigation  into  the  practices  of  that  age  of  Trajan, 
when  the  enormous  number  of  victims  required  for  the  Imperial  games 
is  taken  into  account.  After  his  second  Dacian  triumph  in  a.d.  106, 
for  instance,  the  Emperor  celebrated  games  in  the  metropolis  which 
lasted  123  days,  and  in  which  some  11,000  wild  and  tame  beasts  were 
slaughtered,  and  as  many  as  10,000  gladiators  fought.  For  these 
bloody  entertainments  the  Governors  in  the  provinces  no  doubt  were 
ever  on  the  search  for  victims. 

A  small  escort,  like  that  which  guarded  Ignatius,  would  pick  up 
detachments  of  prisoners  condemned  to  die,  at  diiferent  places  on  the 
route.  Just  such  a  reinforcement  of  the  sad  convoy,  Polycarp  tells  us, 
was  annexed  to  the  company  of  Ignatius  at  Philippi ;  we  find,  too, 
references  to  this  practice  in  classical  writers. 

The  devotion  of  friends,  the  pressing  round  him  of  devotees  during 
that  weary  journey,  the  attention  and  reverent  admiration  of  so  many 
at  the  various  halting  places  on  that  triumphal  march  of  the  Christian 
martyr,  is  reproduced  with  marvellous  accuracy  in  the  curious  Satire 
upon  the  Cynics  and  the  Chi-istians  by  the  Pagan  Lucian.  The 
romance.  Be  Morte  Peregrini,  above  mentioned,  so  exactly  pictures 
scenes  from  the  joui-ney  of  Ignatius,  that  not  a  few  scholars  think  that 
Lucian,  writing  circa  a.d.  165,  drew  much  of  his  brilliant,  though 
sarcastic.  Christian  portraiture  from  the  story.  Be  this  how  it  may, 
Lucian  would  not  have  filled  his  recital  with  circumstances  impossible 
or  even  improbable. 


534  EAELY    GHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

The  geographical  notices  *  in  the  letters  are  absolutely  accurate. 
The  ecclesiastical  conditions^*  moreover,  incidentally  described  therein, 
perfectly  accord  with  all  tliat  we  know  of  the  government  and  internal 
arrangements  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  early  years  of  the  second 
century  ;  while  the  theological  polemics  *  are  exactly  what  we  should 
expect,  neither  more  or  less  developed  than  we  should  look  for  at  that 
early  period  in  the  Church's  history. 

Till  the  days  of  the  Reformation,  then,  the  Ignatian  epistles  were 
accepted  without  dispute.  On  the  revival  of  learning,  however,  in  the 
sixteenth  century  certain  misgivings  on  the  part  of  scholars  began  to 
arise,  owing  to  manifest  historical  errors  discovered  in  the  longer 
rfcension  which  was  commonly  used  in  the  middle  ages. 

At  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  Pi'otestant  controversialists  like 
Calvin  were  bitterly  offended  at  the  overwhelming  testimony  to 
episcopacy  contained  in  these  letters,  and  this  school  angrily  con- 
demned them  as  spurious.  Milton  in  1641,  and  the  Puritan  writers, 
renewed  the  attack  with  fierce  denunciation.  Archbishop  Ussher  in 
A.D.  1644,  however,  with  his  wonderful  erudition  and  critical  genius, 
largely  restored  the  original  text  by  the  aid  of  some  ancient  Latin 
MSS.,  sweeping  away  the  five  extra  epistles,  and  purging  the  text  of 
the  genuine  letters  of  the  interpolated  matter ;  while  Isaac  Voss,  in 
A.D.  1646,  published  six  out  of  the  seven  authentic  epistles  in  the 
original  Greek  from  a  recently  discovered  Florentine  MS.  (The 
Greek  text  of  the  remaining  epistle  to  the  Romans,  missing  in  Voss's 
discovery,  was  found  about  half  a  century  later.)  The  work  of  Ussher 
and  Voss  in  the  restoration  of  the  original  text  has  been  criticised 
again  and  again  ;  but  in  the  main  the  accuracy  of  their  labours  has 
been  established  by  the  subsequent  investigation  of  scholars ;  and  the 
publication  of  the  great  scholarly  work  of  Lightfoot,  Bishop  of  Durham, 
on  the  apostolic  fathers,  put  out  in  the  latter  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  has  virtually  closed  the  question  for  ever.  We  are  now  assured 
that  we  possess  the  precious  seven  epistles  of  Ignatius  in  their  entirety, 
purged  from  all  the  additional  matter  which  had  gradually  gathered 
round  the  original  compositions  of  the  martyr  Bishop  of  Antioch. 

(The  seven  authentic  epistles  of  S.  Ignatius,  translated,  occupy 
some  32  large  octavo  pages,  printed  in  fairly  good  type.) 

*  These  various  points,  which  are  only  just  touched  upon  in  this  brief  note,  are 
all  discussed  at  great  length,  with  rare  learning  and  profound  scholarship,  by  Bishop 
Lightfoot,  who  has  made  that  period,  and  the  position  occupied  by  Ignatius, 
pecidiarly  his  own.  See  Apostolic  Fathers,  S.  Ignatius  and  S.  Polycarp,  vol.  i., 
vi.,  pp.  354-430.  Lightfoot  closes  his  long  and  exhaustive  dissertation  thus: 
— "  On  these  grounds  we  are  constrained  to  accept  the  Seven  Epistles  of  the 
Middle  form  as  the  genuine  work  of  Tcrnatius." 


APPENDIX    G.  535 


SECTION    II. THE    ACTS    OF    MARTYRDOM. 

These  "Acts"  we  possess  iu  five  foi'ms.  Three  of  these  must  be 
set  aside  as  evidently  combinations  of  two  older  documents. 

These  two  older  documents  may  be  termed  the  Antiochene  and 
Roman  Acts  respectively.  Of  these  two  the  Roman  may  be  safely 
disregarded ;  internal  e\adence  condemns  it  as  pui'e  romance,  the  pro- 
duct of  an  age  considerabl}'^  posterior  to  that  of  the  saint  of  whose 
"  passion  "  it  professedly  gives  a  detailed  account. 

The  other  document,  the  "Antiochene  Acts"  of  martyrdom,  is  con- 
sidered by  many  serious  critics,  notably  by  Archbishop  Ussher, 
Pearson,  Leclerc,  and  lately  by  the  French  scholar  and  writer  Allard 
(end  01  nineteenth  century),  as  being  substantially  genuine ;  largely 
spurious  no  doubt  in  its  present  form,  but  based  upon  an  early  and 
authentic  document  incorporated  in  the  present  later  text  which  has 
come  down  to  us,  it  has  obtained  a  ^vide  circulation,  and  is  i-ead  as  an 
authoritative  piece  not  only  by  Greek-speaking  Christians,  but  also  in 
Armenia  and  in  all  the  churches  of  Latin  Christianity. 

On  the  other  hand  Bishop  Lightfoot,  after  a  searching  examination, 
decides  that  the  "  Acts  "  in  question  have  no  claim  to  be  regarded  as 
an  authentic  document ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  carefully  adds  his 
opinion  that  possibly  they  embody  some  earlier  document,  and  thus 
may  preserve  a  residuum  of  genuine  tradition.  This  eminent  scholar 
eijpecially  dwells  on  the  later  portion  of  the  naiTative,  which  professes 
to  be  related  by  eye-witnesses:  "I  cannot  help  feeling  impressed,"  he 
says,  "with  the  air  of  truthfulness,  or,  at  least,  of  verisimilitude,  in 
some  incidents  in  the  latter  portion  of  the  narrative  ...  I  should 
be  disposed  to  believe  that  the  martyrologist  had  incorporated  into 
the  latter  portion  of  his  narrative  a  contemporary  letter  of  the  martyr's 
companions,  containing  an  account  of  the  journey  from  Philippi  (to 
Rome)  and  the  death,  although  freely  interpolating  and  altering  it 
when  he  was  so  disposed." 

He  suggests  the  fifth  or  sixth  century  as  the  probable  date  for  the 
composition  or  redaction  of  the  Antiochene  Acts  in  their  present  form. 


536 


APPENDIX   D. 


NOTES   ON   THE   PASSION   OF   S.   PERPETUA. 

(1)  The  different  ivriters  in  the  "  Passion." — This  well-known  inci- 
dent in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church  in  North  Africa  consists  of 
three  distinct  pieces  welded  into  one  narrative  by  a  redactor  or  editor, 
who,  no  doubt,  was  a  contemporary  of  Perpetua  and  her  companions. 
Its  great  interest  consists  in  the  memoranda  or  notes  of  Perpetua 
relating  to  her  prison  experiences,  among  which  were  those  remarkable 
dreams  which  she  relates  in  singularly  vivid  language.  A  short  piece 
incorporated  with  the  narrative  of  Perpetua  purports  to  have  been 
written  by  one  of  her  fellow-prisoners,  Saturus,  once  her  teacher  in  the 
Faith,  containing  the  memories  of  a  dream  or  vision  of  his  shortly 
before  his  martyrdom. 

A  brief  introduction,  and  a  somewhat  lengthy  but  most  graphic  and 
eloquent  account  of  the  last  scenes  in  the  arena  when  Perpetua  and  her 
companions  suffered,  is  by  another  hand — that  of  the  redactor  or  editor 
— who,  he  tells  us,  added  this  narrative  to  Perpetua's  memoranda,  in 
fulfilment  of  a  promise  made  to  her  before  her  martyrdom. 

The  variations  in  style  and  composition  between  these  three  por- 
tions are  marked.  The  vocabulary  used  is  very  different  in  each  of  the 
cases.  The  "  memories "  of  Perpetua  and  the  one  little  narrative  of 
Saturus  are  perfectly  simple  and  unrestrained ;  the  recollections, 
indeed,  of  highly  cultured  persons,  but  written  down  absolutely  with- 
out any  attempt  at  eloquence.  The  preface  and  the  concluding  account 
of  the  martyrdom,  on  the  other  hand,  are  undeniably  beautiful,  but  are 
evidently  the  composition  of  a  trained  writer  and  thinker. 

(2)  Very  early  use  of  the  "  Passion." — It  was  known  to  and  exten- 
sively used  by  Tertullian,  the  great  African  writer,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  third  century.  He  was  a  contemporary  of  Perpetua's ;  indeed, 
some  consider  that  Tertullian  himself  was  the  redactor  we  have  alluded 
to.     S.  Augustine,  writing  about  the  end  of  tlie  fourth  century,  cites 


APPENDIX   D.  537 

this  "  '  Passion  '  of  Perpetua '  several  times.  It  is  the  theme  of  three 
of  his  discourses,  and  it  is  quoted  at  least  four  times  Vjesides  in  his 
writings. 

(3)  The  abbreviated  Latin  "  Acts." — The  "  Pa.ssion  "  is  best  known  to 
Church  historians  thi'ough  the  medium  of  a  condensed  edition,  generally 
known  as  the  "  short  Latin  Acts,"  read  in  churches  on  the  day  when 
S.  Perpetua  and  her  companions  in  martyrdom  were  commemorated, 
the  original  "  Acts  "  being  too  long  for  liturgical  use.  These  shorter 
Latin  Acts  were  evidently  an  abbreviation  of  the  longer  form.  They 
contain  however,  a  detailed  account  of  the  trial  of  the  martyr  before 
the  Roman  magistrate,  which  is  not  in  the  original.  Some  critical 
scholars  believe  that  this  account  is  authentic,  being  based  upon  an 
original  proces-verbal  which  was  preserved. 

This  shorter  Latin  form  of  the  Acts  was  used  in  the  older  Roman 
Church,  as  well  as  in  the  East,  and  for  a  long  time  was  contained  in 
the  Roman  breviary.  Eventually  it  was  omitted  to  make  room  for 
S.  Thomas  Aquinas. 

(4)  lie-discovery  of  longer  form  of  "  Acts." — The  longer  and  more 
authentic  Latin  form  was  only  re-discovered  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
in  the  library  of  the  great  Benedictine  monastery  of  ^Monte  Cassino,  in 
a  MS.  written  partly  in  the  eleventh  and  pai-tly  in  the  twelfth  century  : 
and  althousrh  other  MSS.  of  the  Acts  are  said  to  exist,  the  Monte 
Cassino  MS.  is  still  the  basis  of  the  Latin  text  now  used.  In  1889 
Professor  Rendel  Harris  discovered  a  comj^lete  Greek  text  of  the 
martyrdom  in  the  library  of  the  Convent  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at 
Jerusalem,  the  IMS.  written  a])parently  in  the  tenth  century  (of  course 
copied  from  an  older  copy).  Allard  relates  how  another  I^atin  MS.  of 
the  "Passion"  was  lound  as  late  as  1892  in  the  Ambrosian  Library  at 
Milan.  No  doubt,  as  time  goes  on,  other  MSS.  will  turn  up,  as  the 
great  libraries  are  more  carefully  searched.  It  is  a  matter  of  dispute 
whether  the  original  was  written  in  Latin  or  in  Greek.  The  balance  of 
evidence  seems  rather  to  point  to  Latin.  One  argument  carries  much 
weight.  In  the  vision  of  Saturus  it  is  expressly  stated  that  Perpetua 
talked  Greek  with  the  bishop  or  pre.sbyter  outside  the  heavenly  gate — 
a  remark  which  would  be  incomjireheusible  if  the  original  document 
had  been  composed  in  the  Greek  language.  The  Greek  version,  how- 
ever, is  certainly  of  a  very  early  date,  and  is,  generally  speaking, 
admirable. 

(5)  The  Visions  of  S.  Perpetua. — Distinct  from  the  historical  interest 
of  Perpetua's  account  of  the  life  led  in  pi'ison  by  the  Christian  accused, 
and  of  the  intercourse  allowed  between  the  accused  and  the  ordinary 
citizens,  the  dreams  and  visions  of  Perpetua  and  Saturus,  as  related  by 


538  EARLY   CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 

themselves,  are  most  important  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
hope  and  faith  which  supported  the  early  Christians  all  through  the 
period  of  their  bitter  trial,  and  gave  them  courage  to  endure  these 
sufferings. 

We  have  already,  in  our  summary  of  the  "  Passion  "  in  the  text  of 
our  history,  dwelt  a  little  on  the  frame  of  mind  which  would  render 
such  visions  or  dreams  probable.  Now  much,  though  not  all,  of  the 
framework,  so  to  speak,  of  these  remarkable  visions  is  based  on  what 
we  may  term  the  current  Christian  literature  of  the  age.  "It  is  a 
familiar  experience  with  us  that  all  our  dreams  can  frequently  be 
traced  back  to  thoughts  which  have  been  present  to  our  waking 
moments,  and  that  their  materials,  in  whatever  strange  combinations 
they  may  present  themselves,  are  derived  largely  from  our  recollec- 
tions; "  but  "we  shall  not  for  that  reason,"  adds  the  writer  of  the 
above  suggestive  words,  "  be  tempted  to  question  their  genuineness."* 

Unmistakably  in  all  the  visions  in  the  "  Passion  "  there  are  many 
recollections  of  scenes  and  words  which  we  find  in  Holy  Scripture. 
The  imagery  of  the  Ladder  in  Perpetua's  first  dream,  for  instance,  was 
suggested,  no  doubt,  by  the  ladder  in  Jacob's  dream  in  Genesis.  In 
the  dream  relating  to  Dinocrates,  her  suffering  child -brother,  the 
great  gulf  between  Abraham's  bosom  and  the  place  of  torment  where 
the  rich  man  found  himself  is  evidently  remembered. 

Not  a  few  memories  of  the  scenery  and  the  persons  of  the  apoca- 
lypse of  S.  John  colour  the  dreams  of  Perpetua  and  Saturus.  And 
there  was  another  book,  written  some  forty  or  fifty  years  before,  which 
had  attained  to  enormous  popularity  in  the  CImrch.  This  book  was 
the  "  Shepherd  of  Plermas."  There  we  find  many  curious  and  in- 
teresting details  which  more  or  less  clearly  reappear  in  the  visions  of 
Perpetua  and  Saturus. 

So  great  was  the  popularity  of  the  "  Shepherd  of  Hermas "  in 
many  of  the  early  congregations  of  Christians,  that  although  it  never 
was  counted  among  the  inspired  writings  included  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment Canon,  yet  it  was  not  infrequently  bound  up  in  the  same  volume 
with  the  New  Testament,  and  in  certain  churches  was  even  read  in  the 
public  services.  Besides  the  memories  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
and  of  the  "  Shepherd  of  Hermas,"  the  influence  of  other  apocalyptic 
writings  in  vogue  in  the  second  century  was  clearly  at  work  in  the 
minds  of  these  highly-wrought  and  earnest  confessors. 

All  these  natural  suggestions  as  to  tlie  sources  of  the  colouring  of 
their  scenes,  however,  by  no  means  exclude  the  belief  that  the  Lord, 

*  Prof.  Armitage  Kobinson,  in  I'extn  ami  Studies  :  The  Passion  of  S.  Per- 
petua.    Cambridge,  1891. 


APPENDIX   I).  539 

by  means  of  these  visions,  directly  intended  to  comfort  and  support  the 
souls  of  His  brave  suffering  witnesses. 

(6)  Is  the  ^'Passion  of  S.  Perpetua"  a  Montnnistic  writing  l—Theo. 
logians  have  noticed,  and  called  attention  to,  the  strong  Montanistic 
colouring,  specially  observable  in  the  Introduction  and  Peroration  by 
the  editor  and  compiler  of  the  "  Passion  ;  "  where  allusions  to  the  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  then  working  with  peculiar  energv  in  the  Church, 
are  pointedly  made ;  the  writer  evidently  assuming  that  there  would 
be,  in  the  age  in  which  he  was  living  (the  first  years  of  the  third 
century),  a  more  abundant  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost  than  had 
ever  been  the  case  before.  It  seems  highly  probable  that  the  compiler 
was  a  Montanist.  Arguing  from  this,  some  have  suggested  that 
Perpetua  and  her  companions  also  belonged  to  the  Montanist  sect. 
Bishop  Freppel  in  his  "  Tertullian "  strongly  and  effectually  disposes 
of  this  hypothesis,  which,  if  accepted,  would  diminish  the  great  weight 
of  the  words  of  Perpetua  as  a  representative  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
the  very  first  years  of  the  third  century.  Never,  said  the  learned 
Bishop,  would  the  Church  have  accorded  to  one  tainted  with  even  a 
suspicion  of  the  errors  of  Montanism  so  eminent  a  position  as  that 
given  to  Perpetua,  and  in  a  less  degree  to  her  companion  Felicitas ; 
these  illustrious  confessors  with  Cyprian,  alone  among  the  many  North 
African  martyrs,  being  included  in  the  famous  fourth  century  cata 
logue  of  saints  to  be  commemorated  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  Their 
names  appear  in  the  most  ancient  Canon  of  the  Mass,  and  their 
memories  are  shrined  in  the  oldest  martyrologies.  They  were  the 
subject,  too,  as  we  have  remarked,  of  three  of  the  extant  sermons 
of  Augustine. 

(7)  The  Montanists. — The  date  of  the  origin  of  Montanism  has 
been  variously  given.  Epiphanius  gives  two  dates,  a.d.  127  and  a.d. 
157  ;  Eusebius  giving  a.d.  173.  Little  is  known  of  its  founder, 
Montanus,  who  was  a  native  of  Mysia.  On  many  points  of 
Christian  teacliing  it  was  no  heresy.  The  doctrine  taught  respecting 
God  and  His  Christ  in  no  wise  differed  from  Catholic  teaching.  But 
as  regards  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  doctrine  of  the  Montanists 
was  wild  and  uncertain.  They  believed  that  at  intervals  the  Holy 
Spirit  descended  upon  men  in  more  abundant  measure,  completing  and 
supplementing  the  original  Christian  revelation.  They  bitterly  re- 
sented their  subsequent  exclusion  from  the  Communion  of  the  Church, 
but  they  had  virtually  excommunicated  themselves  by  condemning  the 
rest  of  the  Christian  world.  They  professed  a  stern,  rigorous  ascetism, 
a  perfection  of  manners,  so  to  speak,  different  from  others.  Their  fasts 
were  longer  and  more  severe.     Their  views  on   marriage  were   most 


540  EABTjY    CHBISTIANfTY   AND    J'AGANIS^^. 

unpractical ;  if  they  did  not  absolutely  condemn  it,  they  hardly  suffered 
it,  while  a  second  marriage  was  in  their  eyes  an  unpardonable  sin.  In 
their  counsels  of  perfection  they  pressed  upon  Christians  the  sternest 
and  most  austere  life.  The  ordinary  Christians  in  their  rigorous  creed 
occupied  a  low  and  inferior  position. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  sa}^  that  the  often  deficient  teaching  of  the 
Catholic  Church  as  to  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  owing  in 
great  measure  to  a  reaction  against  the  extravagances  which  the 
Montanists  loved  to  connect  with  a  special  illapse  of  the  Third  Person 
of  the  Blessed  Trinity.  To  take  well-known  instances  of  this  strange 
omission  in  Christian  teaching,  in  that  most  ancient  hymn  of  adoration, 
the  "  Gloria  in  Excelsis  "  (sung  or  said  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Com- 
munion Office),  the  Blessed  Spirit  is  only  mentioned  quite  at  the  close, 
and  then  only  with  inexplicable  brevity.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  in  the 
"  Imitation  of  Christ,"  the  most  popular  devotional  work  Christianity 
has  ever  put  out — a  popularity  which  knows  no  sign  of  decrease  or 
abatement  as  time  wears  on — a  treatise  which  is  loved  and  prized  still 
in  all  the  churches  of  the  West  by  all  schools  of  thought,  scarcely  a 
mention  of  the  Person  and  office  or  of  the  blessed  influence  of  God  the 
Holy  Ghost  occurs. 

(8)  The  Prejjnancy  of  Felicitas. — That  tlie  state  of  Felicitas  should 
prevent  her  from  being  exposed  to  the  wild  beasts  was  a  well-known 
practice  in  accordance  with  Roman  law.  So  Ulpian  (Digest  xlviii., 
xix.  3),  "  Pra?gnantis  mulieris  .  .  .  poena  differtur  quoad  pariat." 
The  Roman  law  here  has  passed  into  the  laws  of  England,  and  is 
carefully  observed  when  capital  punishment  is  in  question. 

(9)  The  condemned  Christians  being  vested  as  idol  priests  and 
priestesses. — The  martyrs,  we  read,  bitterly  resented  the  attempt  to 
vest  them  with  the  dress  and  ornaments  of  Ceres  and  Saturn.  These 
deities  were  chosen  because  in  Carthage,  where  the  deadly  drama  v/as 
to  be  played,  Ceres  represented  Tanit,  and  Saturn  Baal-Ammon,  the 
two  greatest  divinities  of  the  Carthaginians. 

(10)  Honouo-s  paid  hy  the  Church  to  the  Memory  of  Per petua  and 
Felicitas. — In  addition  to  the  reverence  showed  by  the  Church  to  these 
famous  North  African  martyrs,  mentioned  in  the  text,  we  know  that 
in  the  fifth  century,  probably  at  an  earlier  date  even,  a  basilica  had 
been  erected  at  Carthage  over  the  "  Memoria,"  or  chapel-tomb  of 
Perpetua  and  Felicitas. 


541 


APPENDIX     E. 


EUSEBIUS    THE    HISTORIAN,    AND    LACTANTIUS. 

Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Ctesarea,  was  born  circa  a.d.  260-5.  Erom  his 
earliest  days  he  seems  to  have  been  an  earnest  student  of  sacred 
litei'ature.  While  still  comparatively  young  he  became  connected  with 
Pamphilus,  the  master  of  the  Theological  School  of  Ctesarea,  which 
possessed  a  famous  church  library ;  to  the  care  and  augmentation  of 
which  Eusebius  paid  special  attention.  When  in  a.d.  303  the 
Diocletian  persecution  burst  on  the  Church,  Pamphilus  was  arrested, 
and  suffered  martyrdom  two  years  later.  During  the  imprisonment 
of  his  friend  and  master,  Eusebius  was  in  constant  attendance  on  him. 
After  Pamphilus'  death  Eusebius  withdrew  to  Tyre,  and  subsequently 
to  Egypt,  where  he  was  arrested  for  the  Faith's  sake.  He  was,  how- 
ever, soon  released.  Potammon,  the  Confessor,  in  later  years,  charged 
him  with  procuring  his  freedom  by  apostasy.  "  Who  art  thou, 
Eusebius,"  said  the  rough  and  impetuous  Confessor  as  they  sat  together 
at  the  Council  of  Tyre,  "  to  judge  Athanasius  ?  Didst  not  thou  sit 
with  me  in  prison  at  the  time  of  the  tyrants  ?  They  plucked  out  my 
eye  for  the  confession  of  the  truth ;  thou  camest  forth  unharmed. 
How  didst  thou  escape  ? "  But  the  grave  charge  is  incredible.  Had 
it  been  true,  the  elevation  of  Eusebius  to  the  see  of  Ca^sarea  not  long 
afterwards  would  have  been  impossible ;  never  would  an  ecclesiastic 
have  been  nominated  to  so  important  a  position  had  he  been  an 
apostate  in  the  persecution.  Besides,  never  would  one,  who  in  the 
time  of  peril  had  been  a  I'enegade,  have  set  himself  to  search  out  the 
precious  memories  of  the  great  persecution,  and  have  devoted  so  con- 
siderable a  portion  of  his  life-work  to  do  honour  to  the  noble  martyr 
army.  The  short  story  of  the  martyrs  of  Palestine,*  and  tlie  eighth 
and  ninth  books  of  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Eusebius,  are  the  most 

*  The  story  of  the  "  MartjTS  of  Palestine"  is  included  in  the  Eighth  Book  of 
the  H.  E.,  to  which  it  forms  a  kind  of  Appendix:  the  chapters  being  niutibered 
separately. 


542  EAULY    CHRISTIANITY    AND    PAGANISM. 

serious  and  important  contemporary  pieces  we  possess  on  the  subject 
of  the  terrible  Diocletian  persecution.  Some  surprise  has  been  ex- 
pressed at  the  historian's  departure  from  his  usual  custom  of  dwelling 
on  the  general  history  of  the  Church,  and  confining  himself,  in  the  books 
treating  of  this  period,  to  the  Eastern  area.  The  i-eason  no  doubt 
was  that  Eusebius,  sensible  of  the  deep  importance  of  the  last  terrible 
struggle  of  Christianity  against  Paganism,  restricted  himself  to  those 
events  of  which  he  had  been  an  eye-witness,  or  could  be  assiired  of  the 
evidence  of  eye-witnesses.  Hence  his  silence  as  to  the  trials  of  the 
Church  in  the  Western  provinces  of  Rome. 

The  whole  ecclesiastical  history,  of  which  these  two  books  form  a 
part,  consists  of  ten  books,  the  last  being  mainly  occupied  by  a  relation 
of  the  happy  consequences  which  immediately  followed  the  "  Peace  of 
the  Church."  P>ut  it  is  in  the  "  Memoranda  "  contained  in  Books  I. 
to  YII.  that  Eusebius  has  won  his  undying  title  to  honour.  These  are 
simply  |>riceless.  They  are  not  skilfully  put  together,  it  is  true :  the 
arrangement  is  sadly  wanting  in  method,  and  often  even  in  graphic 
interest ;  but  they  give  us  a  mass  of  information  at  first  hand,  stretch- 
ing over  the  whole  period  of  the  trial-time  of  the  Christians,  especially 
valuable  in  the  history  of  the  second  century,  owing  to  the  numerous 
quotations  from  writings  of  that  age  now  lost.  No  doubt,  when 
Eusebius  wrote  these  "  lost  works  "  were  still  extant,  and  were  to  be 
found  in  the  great  library  of  Caisarea,  with  which  he  was  so  intimately 
connected. 

Of  his  other  works,  perhaps,  the  Clironicon,  in  two  books,  is  the 
most  important  for  students  of  Chui'ch  history.  It  comprises  an  his- 
torical sketch,  with  chronological  tables  of  the  more  memorable  events 
in  the  history  of  the  world  from  the  times  of  Abraham  to  the  twentieth 
year  of  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Constantine.  In  his  "  Life  of 
Constantine,"  an  important  stud}',  Eusebius  has  been  charged  with 
writing  rather  from  the  stand-point  of  a  courtier  than  from  that  of  an 
historian.  That  he  was  a  fer\'id  admirer  of  the  great  sovereign,  who 
was  his  friend  and  patron,  is  undoubted  ;  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  "  Life "  was  written  after  Constantine's  death.  No  mere 
sordid  feeling  then  could  have  coloured  the  writer's  memoir  of  his  dead 
friend  and  sovereign.  Moreover,  many  of  the  documents  quoted  in  the 
"  Life  "  reappear  in  the  works  of  Lactantius,  Augustine,  and  others, 
these  authoi's  deriving  their  knowledge  of  the  events  in  question  largely 
from  the  State  archives. 

As  a  theologian  he  has  been  severely  criticised  ;  Newman,  in  his 
histoi-y  of  the  Arians  of  the  fourth  century,  charging  him  with  "  openly 
siding   with   the   Arians."     On   the  other  hand,  well-known  Anglican 


AFFENDIX    E.  .5i3 

scholars — e.rj.  Bisliop  Bull— defend  his  orthodoxy.  In  truth,  the  great 
historian  was  neither  Arian  nor  Athanasian  ;  he  was  the  representa- 
tive of  the  indeterminate  theology  of  the  Churcli  on  the  great  points 
in  dispute  before  the  formulae  known  as  Athanasian  and  Arian  had 
become  stereotyped.  In  other  words,  he  was  too  old-fashioned  to 
readily  adopt  formulae  which  were  unknown  to  the  school  in  which  he 
had  been  trained,  B^U  he  was  certainly  never  an  Arian.  Eusebius, 
however,  is  important  as  a  historian  rather  than  as  a  theologian. 

This  great  writer,  to  whom  the  Catholic  Church  owes  so  deep  a 
debt  for  his  life-long  researches,  and  for  his  faithful  guardianship  of 
so  many  treasures — which  but  for  his  patient  work  would  have  been 
lost  to  men — cannot  certainly  be  charged  with  ambition  ;  for  when  in 
late  life  he  might  have  filled  the  great  }3atriarchate  of  Antioch,  he  pre- 
ferred simply  to  retain  his  earlier  and  less  distinguished  position,  feel- 
ing doubtless  that  the  higher  office  would  have  interfered  with  the  life- 
task  which  he  so  well  discharged. 

None  of  the  fathers — not  even  Origen  or  Jerome — were  his  equals 
in  erudition ;  and  those  who  justly  complain  of  his  dry  uninteresting 
style,  forget  that  it  is  just  this  very  fault  which  constitutes  the  strange 
charm  and  the  priceless  value  of  his  greatest  work^  his  ecclesiastical 
history.  He  gives  us  the  very  words  of  the  ancient  Christian  writers 
whom  he  quotes,  making  no  attempt  to  fashion  and  mould  them  into 
a  brilliant  and  attractive  history. 

Lactaxtius. 

A  FEW  words  on  another  and  far  less  famous  writer  than  Eusebius, 
to  whom,  however,  we  owe  much  of  our  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the 
times  of  Diocletian  and  Constantine,  will  be  of  interest  to  the  historical 
student.  Lactantius,  whose  historical  treatise  especially — De  Mortihus 
Persecutoruin — is  of  the  greatest  use  to  the  chronicler  of  the  events  of 
the  last  persecution,  was  a  writer  of  no  little  power.  From  the  beauty 
of  his  style  he  has  been  called  the  "Christian  Cicero."  Little  is  known 
of  his  early  life.  At  the  invitation  of  Diocletian  he  became  a  public 
teacher  in  Nicomedia,  the  favourite  city  of  the  great  Emperor,  w-here 
no  doubt  his  intimacy  with  the  master  of  the  Roman  world  gave  him 
rare  opportunities  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  circumstances  which 
led  up  to  the  great  persecution.  Later  he  was  asked  by  Constantine 
the  Great  to  become  tutor  to  his  eldest  son,  the  ill-fated  Crispus  ;  and 
for  a  considerable  period  he  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  the  Christian 
Emperor. 

These  rare  opportunities  of  learning  much  of  the  secret  history  of 


54^  EARLY    CnillSTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

the  eventful  epoch  were  well  used  by  Lactantius.  His  most  important 
work,  Divinarum  InstiUUiomim  Libri  Se/ptem,  concerns  itself  rather 
A\'ith  theology  and  Christian  pliilosophy  than  with  history  ;  still,  it  is 
not  wanting  in  historical  references  of  real  value.  But  his  famous 
treatise  on  the  "  Deaths  of  the  Persecutors  "  is  a  very  valuable,  though 
somewhat  rhetorical,  piece  of  contemporary  history.  It  sets  out  to 
describe  God's  judgments  on  the  persecutors  of  His  Church  from  Nero 
to  Diocletian  ;  but  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  work  is  devoted  to 
the  story  of  the  harrying  the  Christian  communities  by  Diocletian  and 
ids  colleagues  in  the  Empire.  Of  much  of  this  harrying  Lactantius  was 
an  eye-witness,  and  he  was  personally  acquainted  with  several  of  the 
masters  of  the  Roman  world  at  the  period  of  the  last  terrible  conflict 
of  Paganism  and  Christianity. 

Souie  doubts  have  arisen  respecting  the  authorship  of  this  treatise. 
In  the  earlier  printed  editions  of  Lactantius  the  piece  in  question  is 
wanting;  it  was  first  brought  to  light  and  pi'inted  by  Stephen  Baluze  in  a.d. 
1679,  from  an  ancient  MS.  Those  critics  who  question  the  authorship 
ascribe  it  to  some  more  obscure  rhetorician  of  the  same  period.  But 
the  intimate  knowledge  of  the  inner  history  of  the  times  displayed  by 
the  writer  is  a  strong  argument  in  support  of  Lactantius,  whose  posi- 
tion as  a  famous  rhetorician,  held  in  high  esteem  at  Court  by  men  like 
Constantine  (who  subsequently  entrusted  him  with  the  education  of 
his  son),  would  have  given  him  special  access  to  the  inner  circles  of  the 
Imperial  Court.  The  style,  too,  and  expression  of  the  treatise  are  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  other  known  writings  of  the  author.  Allard, 
the  French  scholar,  the  most  recent  historian  of  the  period,  in  his  great 
and  exhaustive  work  on  the  persecutions,  makes  copious  use  of  it  as  a 
book  "  dont  I'authenticite  n'est  plus  contestee."  {Persecution  de 
Dioclctien — vol.  i.,  Paris,  1898 — Introduction,  iv.) 

Gibbon  fiercely  assails  Lactantius  with  the  abuse  and  sarcasm  of 
which  he  was  so  skilled  a  master,  but  his  animosity  was  evoked  by  the 
bitter  hatred  of  Paganism  and  its  defenders  which  so  strongly  colours 
the  writings  he  attacks.  To  some  extent  the  estimate  of  the  great  his- 
torian has  influenced  the  judgment  which  later  writers  have  generally 
formed  of  the  works  of  this  most  interesting  and  valuable  contemporary 
witness. 


545 


APPENDIX     F. 


THE   EARLY   HERESIES   OF  THE   CHURCH. 

The  Christian  Church  from  the  earliest  days  of  its  existence  had  to 
meet  and  combat  strange,  and  to  us  somewhat  unaccountable,  heresies. 
As  these  for  the  most  part  disappeared  before  the  first  three  centuries 
had  run  their  course,  leaving  few  traces  behind  them,  we  shall  not 
weary  the  student  with  any  long  detailed  account  of  them.  The 
Manichoean  heresy,  a  late  development  of  Gnosticism,  in  some  of  its 
developments  alone  seems  to  have  lived  on  into  the  Middle  Ages. 

Gnosticism  is  a  name  which  primarily  suggests  a  claim  to  more 
than  ordinary  knowledge.  The  following  rough  characteristic  features 
generally  belonged  to  its  professors. 

(a)  Gnosticism  would  not  now  be  classed  as  a  "heresy"  at  all.  In 
none  of  its  various  developments  was  it  a  corruption  of  Chi'istianity. 
It  was  in  all  respects  a  different  religion,  which  engrafted  certain 
Christian  ideas  into  its  several  systems.  The  term  "  heresy "  was 
used  by  early  writers  in  a  greatly  extended  sense.  Gnosticism  probably 
made  little  headway  among  the  Christian  communities  themselves ; 
its  malignant  influences  affected  only  their  fringes — but  no  doubt  it 
attracted  largely  their  Pagan  neighbours  in  different  countries  to  its 
mystic  speculations. 

(6)  As  a  rule  all  Gnostic  sects  held  that  evil  inheres  in  matter. 

(c)  The  result  of  this  belief  led  these  "  heretics "  to  deny  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  altogether,  as  they  regarded  death  as  freeing 
the  soul  once  for  all  from  the  state  of  imprisonment  in  the  body. 

{d)  Our  world  was  nob  formed  by  the  supreme  God,  but  by  another 
Being,  who  had  proceeded  from  Him,  not  directly,  but  through  sue 
cessive  generations  of  spiritual  Beings.  This  Being,  to  whom  the 
creation  of  the  world  was  attributed,  is  generally  termed  the  Demiurge. 
Him  the  Jews  worshipped.  He  was  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament. 
In  the  various  Gnostic  systems  this  Demiurge,  or  Creator  of  the  world, 
J  J 


546  EARLY   CHBI8TIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

occupied  different  positions.  In  some  of  their  schools  lie  is  represented 
as  hostile  to  the  Supreme  ;  in  others,  a  subordinate  and  unconscious 
instrument  of  the  will  of  the  Supreme. 

As  a  result  of  this  generally  received  Gnostic  article  of  belief,  the 
Old  Testament  was  usually  rejected,  and  by  some  Gnostic  schools  was 
even  abhorred. 

These  fantastic  teachings  seem  to  have  appeared  very  early,  and 
were  probably  alluded  to  by  both  S.  Paul  and  S.  John.  As  time 
advanced  the  Gnostic  systems  grew  more  complex  and  elaborate,  each 
particular  sect — for  there  were  many— fashioning  and  shaping  them 
according  to  their  own  liking,  largely  drawing  upon  Oriental  religions 
for  their  grotesque  and  often  uncouth  fancies. 

Valentinus,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  imaginative  of  these  teachers, 
Avho  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  or  rather  earlier, 
elaborated  perhaps  the  most  popular  form  of  Gnostic  belief.  From  the 
first  principle,  self-existent  and  perfect,  proceeded  various  grades  of 
Beings,  or  "^ons."  From  the  first  grade,  by  successive  generations 
emanated  other  and  lower  Beings.  Among  these  Christ*  is  found,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  still  later  the  Demiurge,  who  created  Man. 

To  dwell  upon  these  curious  and  fanciful  speculations  would  be,  in 
a  history  of  the  Christian  Church,  an  unprofitable  task,  especially  as 
well-nigh  the  only  materials  for  such  an  investigation  are  contained 
in    the   writings    of    certain   Christian    fathers,   notably    Irenajus    and 

*  The  Christian  idea  of  redemption  e%idently  was  not  absent  from  the  Gnostic 
conception,  but  the  declarations  about  Christ  in  its  different  schools  were  ex- 
ceedingly various.  Even  amongst  the  Valentinian  teachers,  as  far  as  we  can 
gather,  very  different  concei^tions  existed  of  Him.  It  seems  that  Valentinus  him- 
self truly  acknowledged  neither  the  Himianity  nor  the  Divinity  of  the  Saviour  J 
generally,  Gnosticism  taught  that  Jesus  Christ,  abhorring  all  communion  ^^■ith 
matter,  assimied  a  docetic  or  apparitional  body.  Among  the  Gnostic  teachers 
Marcion,  who  taught  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  second  century,  perhaps  alone  among 
the  Gnostic  leaders,  professed  to  be  purely  Christian  in  his  doctrine,  and  took  for 
the  basis  of  his  system  the  New  Testament  scriptm-es ;  but  here  he  was  eclectic. 
Among  the  gospels  he  onlj'  acknowledged  S.  Luke's,  and  ten  of  the  Pauline 
epistles  ;  freely  cutting  out,  even  from  these  writings,  any  statements  which  were  at 
variance  with  his  own  peculiar  and  fantastic  theories.  The  other  books  of  the  New 
Testament  he  considered  were  tainted  with  Judaism.  He  rejected  without  ex- 
ception all  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament.  Marcion,  in  coumion  with  other 
Gnostic  masters,  held  that  Matter  was  evil,  and  that  Matter  had  its  Lord,  eternal 
and  evil.  He  taught,  too,  that  between  the  Lord  of  Matter  and  the  Supi-eme  God 
existed  a  third  Being,  the  Demiurge  (who  created  Man),  who  probably  was  an 
emanation  from  the  Supreme  ;  but  this  is  imcertain.  This  Demiurge  was  the  God 
of  the  Jews.  The  work  of  the  Demiurge  in  some  respects  was  independent  of  the 
Supreme  God,  and  hence  faulty.  Jesus  Christ  was  sent  by  the  Supreme  God  to 
earth  to  redeeni  man  without  the  knowlcdo'c  of  the  Demiurae. 


APPENDIX   F.  547 

Hippolytus.  Irenjeus  wrote  in  the  last  quai-ter  of  the  second  century, 
and  Hippolytus  a  very  few  years  later.  To  these  may  be  added  Origen, 
who  wrote  about  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  Hippolytus,  and  Epiphanius 
(second  half  of  the  fourth  century).  These  writers  being  the  bitterest 
opponents  of  the  Gnostic  theories,  their  presentment  of  them  was 
inevitably  coloured  by  this  intense  enmity.  The  charges  especially 
brought  against  the  great  Gnostic  leaders  of  impurity  and  corruption  in 
tlieir  lives  must  be  viewed  with  some  suspicion. 

But  when  all  these  allowances  for  possible  exaggerations  or  even 
misrepresentations  on  the  part  of  their  Christian  adversaries  have  been 
made,  when  it  has  been  conceded  that  the  "  fanciful  and  grotesque  "  in 
these  Gnostic  systems  has  been  perhaps  unduly  pressed,  when  the 
charges  of  impurity  and  lawlessness  in  their  way  of  life  have  been,  if 
not  dropped,  at  least  largely  modified  in  the  case  of  many  of  these 
followers  of  Gnosticism  ;  there  remains,  absolutely  proven,  the  fact 
that  Gnosticism  in  its  varied  and  various  developments  was  not 
Christianihj,  not  even  a  perverted  Christianity,  but  a  perfectly  dif 
ferent  religion.  The  few  points  of  resemblance,  here  and  there  notice- 
able, in  no  way  affected  the  general  Gnostic  teaching.  As  set  forth 
by  Menander,  Cerinthus,  Basilides,  and  Valentinus,  and  even  Marcion 
— to  name  a  few  of  the  most  conspicuous  masters- — it  was  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  a  new  religion. 

With  one  or  two  possible  exceptions,  the  actual  writings  of  the 
Gnostics  have  disappeared.  In  later  times  a  Gnostic  hymn  of  some 
length  was  discovered  in  the  Syriac  "  Acts  of  Judas  Thomas,  the 
Apostle."  The  hymn,  however,  has  no  apparent  connection  with  the 
"  Acts  of  Thomas,"  no  possible  bearing  on  the  narrative  therein  con. 
tained  ;  it  is  only  found  in  one  MS,  (now  in  the  British  Museum  Library), 
and  has  evidently  been  borrowed  from  some  extraneous  source  and 
inserted  in  this  MS.,  which  only  dates  from  the  tenth  century.  It  has 
been  accurately  described  by  a  modern  scholar  in  the  following  terms  : 
"We  have  here  an  ancient  Gnostic  hymn  relating  to  the  soul,  which  is 
sent  from  its  heavenly  home  to  the  earth,  and  there  forgets  both  its 
origin  and  its  mission  until  it  is  aroused  by  a  revelation  from  on  high  ; 
thereupon  it  performs  the  task  assigned  to  it,  and  returns  to  the  upper 
regions,  when  it  is  reunited  to  the  heavenly  robe,  its  ideal  counterpart, 
and  enters  the  presence  of  the  highest  celestial  PoAvers."  From  intey-nal 
evidence  the  hymn  must  have  been  written  before  a.d.  224,  and  prob. 
ably  was  put  out  some  years  before  this  date.  It  contains  several  of 
the  well-known  Gnostic  "heresies."  (1)  It  regards  the  separation  of 
the  soul  from  the  body  as  a  blessing,  representing  the  human  body  as 
a  filthy  and  unclean  garb.     (2)  It  holds  the  theory  of  the   existence 


548  EARLY    CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

of  a  number  of  lesser  Gods  ;  that  is  to  say,  of  eternal  Beings  subor- 
dinate to  the  Supreme  God.  (3)  It  never,  however,  refers  to  the  'New 
Testament,  or  even  alludes  to  the  historical  facts  on  which  Christianity 
is  founded. 

We  have  spoken  at  some  length  of  this  recently  discovered  "  Great 
Hymn  of  the  Soul,"  which  is  a  poem  of  extraordinary  beauty  ;  because, 
as  far  as  we  know,  it  is  the  only  *  piece  of  pure  Gnostic  literature  ex- 
tant whieh  has  not  come  down  to  xis  through  the  medium  of  Christian 
writers.  And  while  we  acknowledge  its  high  merit  as  a  striking  com- 
position, full  of  beauty  of  thought,  and  coloured  with  pure  and  noble 
ideals,  it  fully  bears  out  the  conception  we  have  formed  of  Gnosticism, 
as  a  system  altogether  alien  from  Christianity ;  possessing,  indeed,  few 
points  in  common  with  it,  save  the  shadows  of  a  few  names  and  a 
certain  number  of  borrowed  doctrines,  which  when  examined  closely  are 
found  to  possess  little  likeness  to  the  original  Christian  teaching. 

The  rough  dates  of  the  Gnostic  masters  are  as  follows  :  Simon 
Magus,  the  contemporary  of  S.  Peter  ;  we  hear  of  him  as  early  as 
A.D.  34-5.  He  is  usually  considered  the  pioneer  of  Gnosticism. 
Menander,  his  disciple,  carried  on  his  teaching.  Cerinthtis  was  a 
contemporary  of  S.  John  towards  the  end  of  the  first  century.  He 
seems  to  have  differed  in  his  teaching  from  the  later  Gnostic  schools 
in  his  estimate  of  the  Old  Testament.  He  accepted  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets,  but  considered  the  Old  Testament  teaching  as  proceeding 
from  a  Being  (the  Demiurge)  not  only  inferior  to  the  Supreme,  but 
even  ignorant  of  Him.  He  did  not  apparently  share  in  the  Gnostic 
views  of  the  inherent  evil  of  Matter,  as  he  taught  the  resurrection  of 
the  body.  The  only  portion  of  the  New  Testament  that  he  received 
was  a  inutilated  gospel  of  S.  Matthew. 

Saturnirms  and  Basilides,  respectively  the  foundeis  of  Syrian  and 
Alexandrian  Gnosticism,  were  traditionally  disciples  of  Menander,  the 
pupil  of  Simon  JMagus.  The  school  of  Saturninus  had  comparatively 
little  influence,  and  soon  disappeared.  The  date  usually  assigned  to 
him  is  circa  a.d.  110-134. 

Basilides,  circa  a.d.  135,  taught  the  usual  Gnostic  doctrine  of 
various  emanations  from  the  Supreme  God,  one  of  the  lowest  of  whom 
was  Creator  of  the  world  and  was  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament.  He 
professed  to  derive  his  system  from  S.  Matthias  and  from  one  Glaucias, 
an  interpreter  of  S.  Peter.     His  teaching  obtained  a  wide  popularity. 

Valentinus  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  or  a 

*  With  the  possible  exception  of  the  treatise  Uians  (rocpia,  regarded  by  some 
scholars  as  an  original  composition  by  Valentinus. 


AFPENDIX   F.  549 

little  earlier.  His  system  we  have  already  briefly  dwelt  upon.  It  was 
of  a  more  elaborate  and  complex  character  than  that  of  any  other  of 
the  Gnostic  teachers,  and  he  counted  among  his  adherents  a  more 
numerous  following.  His  influence  was  probably  largely  owing  to 
his  brilliant  pupil  Heracleon  {circa  a.d.  170),  whose  commentaries, 
especially  on  S.  John,  were  widely  read.  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
writing  early  in  the  second  century,  calls  him  the  most  famous  of  the 
Valentinian  school,  and  gives  us  two  extracts  from  his  commentaries ; 
while  Origen  has  preserv^ed  no  less  than  some  forty-eight  extracts, 
several  of  them  being  of  considerable  length. 

It  must  ever  be  borne  in  mind  that,  with  the  one  or  possibly  two  ex- 
ceptions mentioned  above,  all  our  knowledge  of  the  once  famous  Gnostic 
teachers  is  derived  from  their  bitter  opponents,  and  from  the  fragments 
of  Heracleon  presei'ved  to  us  by  Origen.  Some  of  these  excerpts  are 
undoubtedly  of  great  power,  and,  as  has  been  well  said,  "  enable  us  to 
set  their  theology  in  a  more  worthy  light  than  does  the  fantastic 
'  system '  which  Irena^us  and  others  have  given."  But,  as  we  have 
said  above,  their  teaching  can  in  no  wise  be  looked  upon  as  simply 
"heretical."  Tlie  religion  which  they  taught  was  absolutely  distinct, 
and  their  speculations  find  little,  if  any,  support  whatever  in  the  teach- 
ing of  the  gospels  and  epistles  of  the  New  Testament  Canon. 

Judaic  Heresies. 

There  was  one  specially  grave  danger  to  which  the  early  Church 
was  exposed,  and  from  which  after  some  struggling  she  freed  herself ; 
but  for  a  time  the  issue  seemed  doubtful.  What  was  to  be  her  atti- 
tude towards  the  Jewish  people,  from  the  heart  of  which  she  sprang  ? 
In  other  words,  was  Christianity  to  be  a  Jewish  or  a  Universal  Church  ? 
Were  the  Gentile  nations  who  accepted  Christianity  to  be  admitted  on 
somewhat  hard  and  degrading  terms  into  the  Jewish  fold ;  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  were  the  Jews  to  become  Christian,  acknowledging  that 
the  ancient  doors  of  separation  between  them  and  the  outside  world 
were  now  broken  down,  and  that  all  men  were  equally  the  people  of 
God? 

Very  soon  the  great  question  was  decided.  By  apostolic  decree, 
by  apostolic  teaching  everywhere.  Gentile  liberty  and  Gentile  equality 
in  all  respects  was  insisted  upon.  It  was  decided  that  the  rite  of  cir- 
cumcision should  not  be  imposed  upon  the  Gentiles,  and  that  Jewish 
laws  and  customs  should  not  be  pressed  upon  the  foreign  strangers 
flocking  into  the  Church.  Gradually  without  restriction  Gentiles  were 
Admitted,  faith  in  the  name  of  Jesus  and  a  pure  devoted  life  being  the 


550  EARLY    GHBI8TIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

only  requirements  necessary  before  they  received  the  baptismal  seal  of 
membership. 

But  not  a  few  of  the  Jews  were  indignant  at  these  concessions  j 
indignant  at  the  bare  thought  that  they,  the  chosen  people,  were  to 
be  merged  into  one  great  fold,  with  Gentiles,  whom  they  had  so 
despised,  for  their  comrades  in  the  love  of  God.  To  many  Jews  the 
doctrine  of  the  great  "  Pharisee  "  Chi-istian  Paul,  "  that  in  Christ  was 
neither  Jew  nor  Greek,"  was  positively  hateful. 

No  doubt  the  jealousy  in  the  Christian  synagogues  was  for  a  season 
the  gravest  danger  the  Church  had  to  encounter.  We  shall  never 
know  how  great  was  the  peril.  Witli  perhaps  the  excei^tion  of  the 
Thessalonian  letters,  written  too  early  to  be  affected  by  this  deadly 
struggle,  all  Paul's  letters  are  more  or  less  coloured  by  this  internal 
strife.  And  we  come  upon  burning  references  to  it  in  S.  John's 
"Revelation,"  when  he  flames  out,  for  instance,  twice  over,  in  tho 
letters  to  the  Smyrna  and  Philadelphia  churches,  with  such  words 
as,  "I  know  the  blasphemy  of  them  which  say  they  are  Jews  but  are 
not,  but  are  the  synagogue  of  Satan."  Zeal  for  a  "  Law  "  which  had 
done  its  work  was  the  prime  danger  the  first  Christian  missionaries 
had  to  encounter  ;  it  had  to  be  overcome,  for  the  question  was  one  of 
life  or  death. 

But  a  terrible  and  unlooked-for  catastrophe  happened,  which  largely 
cleared  the  way  for  the  brave  and  generous  preachers  of  the  "  open 
door  "  for  the  Gentiles.  The  awful  close  of  the  Jewish  rebellion  in 
A.D.  70,  the  ruin  of  Jerusalem  which  followed  the  burning  of  the 
Temple,  the  utter  overthrow  of  the  Jewish  nation,  well-nigh  swept 
away  the  Jew  from  the  scene.  The  cessation  of  the  Temple  services, 
the  utter  impossibility  of  any  longer  observing  the  Mosaic  ordinances^ 
save  in  a  very  attenuated  manner,  disarmed  much  of  the  fierce  opposi- 
tion ;  and  the  work  was  completed  by  the  second  frightful  catastrophe 
to  the  Jews  in  Hadrian's  reign  (a.d.  135).  Henceforth  the  work  of 
the  preachers  of  the  "open  door"  for  the  Gentiles  was  easier.  Effective 
Jewish  opposition  was  in  fact  crushed  out ;  the  Christian  communities 
were  left  to  pursue  their  life  virtually  unhindered,  unhampered  by 
Jewish  prejudices  and  Jewish  passions. 

After  the  ruin  of  Judaism  in  the  final  catastrophe  of  Hadrian's: 
war  in  a.d.  135,  there  remained  of  the  once  fairly  numerous  class  of 
the  Christians  of  the  Circumcision  only  a  poor  remnant  who  still  clung 
to  their  cherished  traditions ;  but  these  were  neither  numerous  nor 
powerful  enough  to  hinder  the  onward  march  of  Christianity. 

In  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  not  many  years  after  the 
catastrophe  of  a.d.   135,  Justin   Martyr  tells  us  that  there  were  two 


APPENDIX   F.  551 

classes  of  (professedly  Christian)  Judaisers  ;  those  who,  retaining  the 
Mosaic  law  themselves,  did  not  wish  to  impose  it  on  their  Gentile 
brethren,  and  those  who  demanded  conformity  in  all  Christians  alike 
as  a  condition  of  communion  and  a  means  of  salvation. 

The  first  of  these  classes,  generally  known  as  Nazarenes,  cannot  be 
fairly  classed  as  heretics,  and  were  in  no  way  a  hindrance  to  the  pro- 
gress of  Christianity.  They  were  mostly  orthodox  in  their  creed,  and 
held  communion  with  Catholic  Christians.  The  Nazarenes  were  few 
in  number,  and  for  the  most  part  dwelt  in  remote  districts  in  Palestine 
beyond  the  Jordan.  Some  scholars  hold  that  the  curious  and  ancient 
writing  known  as  "  The  Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,"  vari- 
ously dated  by  scholars  from  a.d.  100  to  a.d.  150,  was  a  Nazarene 
work,  and,  as  far  as  it  goes,  fairly  representative  of  their  opinions. 
This  "  friendly  "  Judaising  sect  still  existed  as  late  as  the  close  of  the 
fourth  century. 

The  Ehionites,  however,  were  a  much  larger  and  more  important  body. 
They  were  to  be  found  not  only  in  Palestine  and  Syria,  but  in  Rome 
and  in  other  great  cities  where  the  dispersed  Jews  congregated.  They 
were  bitterly  opposed  to  Gentile  believers  who  refused  to  conform  to 
the  Mosaic  law  and  customs.  They  were  thoroughly  unorthodox, 
too,  in  their  opinions,  holding  our  Lord  to  be  a  mere  man,  the  son  of 
Joseph  and  Mary,  although  they  regarded  Him  as  Messiah.  They 
hated  S.  Paul,  and,  of  course,  rejected  his  writings.  The  famous  pseudo- 
Clementine  writings,  known  as  *'  The  HomiHes "  and  "  The  Recogni- 
tions," issued  from  this  hostile  heretical  sect.  They  were  in  active 
antagonism  to  the  orthodox  Christian  Church  about  the  second  half 
of  the  second  century  in  Rome,  were  mischievous,  too,  in  other  popu- 
lous centres,  and  we  hear  of  them  as  still  a  considerable  body  in  the 
fourth  century,  after  which  they  disappear  from  view.  It  has  been 
suggested  with  great  probability  that  they  became  gi-adually  absorbed 
into  Jewish  communities,  with  whom  they  possessed  greater  affinities 
than  with  their  so-called  brethren  of  the  Catholic  Church.* 

*  The  meaning  of  the  appellation  "Ebionite"  is  doiibtfid.  Tertiillian  derives  it 
from  one  Ebion,  a  master  or  teacher  of  the  sect ;  hut  against  this  it  is  urged  that  no 
mention  of  such  a  person  occurs  in  the  references  of  Irena^us  or  Origen.  A  more 
probable  derivation  is  from  the  Hebrew  "  ebion  " — poor — from  the  overty  of  their 
doctrines,  or  more  likely  from  the  poverty  of  their  condition  ;  the  Jewish  commimities 
from  whom  this  sect  would  be  largely  recruited,  especially  after  the  dispersion  in 
A.D.  135,  being  as  a  rule  notorious  for  their  poverty,  at  least  as  far  as  outward 
appearance  could  be  trusted. 


552 


APPENDIX     G. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   LACTANTIUS   AND   EUSEBIUS. 

showing  the  nature  of  persecutions  endured  by  the  christians 
under  diocletian,  galerius,  and  maximin  daia.     a.d.    s03-313. 

Lactantius — De  Mortibus  Persecutorum. 

"  Presbyters  and  other  officers  of  the  Church  were  seized,  without 
evidence  by  witnesses  or  confession,  condemned,  and  together  with 
their  families  led  to  execution.  In  burning  alive  no  distinction  of 
sex  or  age  was  regarded ;  and  because  of  their  great  multitude,  they 
were  not  burnt  one  after  another,  but  a  herd  of  them  were  encircled 
with  the  same  fire :  and  servants,  having  millstones  tied  about  their 
necks,  were  cast  into  the  sea. 

"Nor  was  the  persecution  less  grievous  on  the  rest  of  the  people  of 
God  ;  for  the  judges,  dispersed  through  all  the  temples,  sought  to  compel 
everyone  to  saci'ifice. 

"  The  prisons  were  crowded.  Tortures  hithex'to  unheard  of  were 
invented ;  and  lest  justice  should  be  inadvertently  administered  to 
a  Christian,  altars  were  placed  in  the  courts  of  justice,  hard  by  the 
tribunal,  that  every  litigant  might  offer  incense  before  his  cause  could 
be  heard." — Chapter  xv. 

"  He  began  this  mode  of  execution  by  edicts  against  the  Christians, 
commanding  that  after  torture  and  condemnation  they  should  be  burnt 
at  a  slow  fire.  They  were  fixed  to  a  stake,  and  first  a  moderate  flame 
was  applied  to  the  soles  of  their  feet,  until  the  muscles,  contracted  by 
burning,  were  torn  from  their  bones  ;  then  torches,  lighted  and  put  out 
again,  were  directed  to  all  the  members  of  their  bodies,  so  that  no  part 
had  any  exemption." — Chapter  xxi. 


APPENDIX    G.  553 

EusEBius— //.  K,  Book  VIII. 

"  But  of  the  rest,  each  encountered  various  kinds  of  torments. 
Here  was  one  that  was  scourged  with  rods,  there  another  tormented 
with  the  rack  and  excruciating  scrapings,  in  which  some  at  the  time 
endured  tlie  most  terrible  death ;  otliers  again  passed  through  other 
torments  in  the  struggle." — Chapter  iii. 

"Who  can  behold  without  amazement  all  this:  their  conflicts,  after 
scourging,  with  bloody  beasts  of  prey,  when  they  were  cast  as  food  to 
leopards  and  bears,  wild  boars  and  bulls,  goaded  with  fire,  and  branded 
with  glowing  iron  1  And  in  each  of  these,  who  can  fail  to  admire  the 
wonderful  patience  of  these  noble  martyrs  ?  At  these  scenes  we  have 
been  present  ourselves,  when  we  also  observed  the  Divine  power  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  present,  and  effectually  dis- 
played in  them  ;  when  for  a  long  time  the  devoui-ing  wild  beasts  would 
not  dare  either  to  touch  or  approach  the  bodies  of  these  pious  men,  but 
directed  their  violence  against  others  that  were  anywhere  stimulating 
them  from  without." — Chapter  vii. 

"  But  one  cannot  but  admire  those  that  suffered  also  in  their  native 
land,  where  thousands,  both  men,  women  and  children,  despising  the 
present  life  for  the  sake  of  our  Saviour's  doctrine,  submitted  to  death 
in  various  shapes. 

"  Some  after  being  tortured  with  scrapings  and  the  rack,  and  the 
most  dreadful  scourgings  and  other  innumerable  agonies,  which  one 
might  shudder  to  hear,  were  finally  committed  to  the  flames  ;  some 
plunged  and  drowned  in  the  sea ;  others  voluntarily  ottering  their  own 
heads  to  the  executioners ;  others  dying  in  the  midst  of  their  tor- 
ments ;  some  wasted  away  by  famine,  and  otliers  again  fixed  to  the 
cross.  Some,  indeed,  wei-e  executed  as  malefactors  commonly  were ; 
others,  more  cruelly,  were  nailed  with  the  head  downwards,  and  kept 
alive  until  they  were  destroyed  by  starving  on  the  cross  itself." — 
Chapter  viii. 

"  And  what  language  would  suffice  to  recount  their  virtues  and  their 
bravery  under  every  trial  ? 

"For  as  everyone  had  the  liberty  to  aljuse  them,  some  beat  them 
with  clubs,  some  with  rods,  some  with  scourges,  others  again  with 
thongs,  others  with  ropes.  And  the  sight  of  these  torments  was  varied 
and  multiplied,  exhibiting  excessive  malignity.  For  some  had  their 
hands  tied  behind  them  and  were  suspended  on  the  rack,  and  every 
limb  was  stretched  on  machines." — Chapter  x. 

"  Some  were  mutilated  by  having  their  noses,  ears,  and  hands  cut 
off,  and  the  rest  of  their  limbs  and  parts  of  their  bodies  cut  to  pieces. 


554  EABLY    CHRIS TIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 

as  was  the  case  at  Alexandria.  Why  should  we  revive  the  recollection 
of  those  at  Antioch,  who  were  roasted  on  grates  of  fire,  so  as  not  to 
kill  them  immediately,  but  to  torture  them  with  a  lingering  punish- 
ment 1  "—Chapter  xii. 

"  The  men  bore  fire,  sword,  and  crucifixions,  savage  beasts,  and  the 
depths  of  the  sea  ;  the  maiming  of  limbs  and  searing  with  red-hot 
iron,  pricking  and  digging  out  the  eyes,  and  the  mutilations  of  the 
whole  body.  Also  hunger,  and  mines  and  prisons  ;  and,  after  all,  they 
chose  these  sufferings  for  the  sake  of  religion,  rather  than  transfer  to 
idols  that  veneration  and  worship  which  is  due  to  God  only.  The 
females,  also,  no  less  than  the  men,  were  strengthened  by  tlie  doctrine 
of  the  Divine  Word,  so  that  some  endured  the  same  trials  as  the  men, 
and  bore  away  the  same  prizes  of  excellence." — Chapter  xiv. 

"  Some  were  scourged  with  innumerable  strokes  of  the  lash ;  others 
racked  in  their  limbs,  and  galled  in  their  sides  with  torturing  instru- 
ments ;  some  with  intolerable  fetters,  by  which  the  joints  of  their 
hands  were  dislocated.  Nevertheless  they  bore  the  event,  as  regu- 
lated by  the  secret  determinations  of  God." — Martyrs  of  Palestine, 
Chapter  i. 

"  When  the  storm  had  incessantly  raged  against  us  into  the  sixth 

year  of  the  persecution,  there  had  been  before  this  a  vast  number  of 

confessors  of  true  religion  in  what  is  called  the  porphyry  quarry,  from 

the  name  of  the  stone  which  is  found  in  the  Thebais.     Of  these  one 

hundred,  wanting  three,  men,  women,  and  young  infants,  wei'e  sent  to 

the  governor  of  Palestine,  who,  for  confessing  the  Supreme  God  and 

j\    Christ,  had  the  ankles  and  sinews  of  their  left  legs  seared  off  with  a 

red-hot  iron.     Besides  this,   they  had   their  light  eyes  first  cut  out, 

f     together  with  the  lids  and  pupils,  and  then  seared  with  red-hot  irons, 

\    so  as  to  destroy  the  eyes  to  the  very    roots." — Martyrs  of  Palestine, 

'    Chapter  viii. 

"  Thus,  then,  the  thirty-nine,  at  the  command  of  the  most  execrable 
Maximin,  were  beheaded  in  one  day.  And  these  were  the  martyrdoms 
exhibited  in  Palestine  in  the  space  of  eight  years,  and  such  was  the 
persecution  in  our  day.  It  began,  indeed,  with  the  demolition  of  the 
churches,  and  grew  to  a  great  height  during  the  insurrections  from 
time  to  time  under  the  rulers.  In  these,  many  and  various  were  the 
contests  of  the  noble  wrestlers  in  the  cause  of  piety,  who  presented  an 
innumerable  multitude  of  martyrs  through  the  whole  province,  from 
Libya,  and  through  all  Egypt,  Syx-ia,  and  those  of  the  east,  round  as 
far  as  those  of  the  region  of  Illyricum," — Martyrs  of  Palestine, 
Chap>ter  xiii. 


INDEX 


Absolution,  Dissensions  respecting,  304 

"  Acta  J\istini,"  1S9 

"Acts  of  Pilate,"  44ii 

"  Acts   of  the  Apostles,"   21 ;    Period   covered 

by,  25 
"Acts  "  of  the  martyrs  under  Severus,  Lost,  242 
"Acts  (or  Passions)  of  the  Martyrs,"  13,  00,  99, 
133,  188,  1SI2,   19S,   206,  217,   224,  242,   311, 
389,  393,  395,  400,  404,  414,  42T,  435,  481, 
535,  536 
Africa,  North,  Persecutions  in,  369 
Agnes,  S.,  "Acts"  of,  436  ;  Cemetery  of,  272 
Agrippinus,  Council  under,  359 
Alaric  and  Rome,  279 
Alban,  S.,  Martyrdom,  404 
Alexander  Severus,   Emperor,  251 ;   favourable 

to  Christians,  250,  299  ;  his  death,  252 
Alexandria,  Catechetical   School   of,   332 ;    the 
Church  in,  331 ;  Persecutions  in,  240,  242, 
477  ;  and  S.  Mark,  331 
Allard's  "  History  of  Persecutions,"  404 
Ambrose,  S.,  of  Milan,  512 
Amphitheatre     Games,    Influence    on     Roman 

society,  499 
Anencletus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  62 
Auicetus,  Bishop  of  Ro]ue,  84 
Anthony,  S.,  509  ;  Life  of,  by  Athanasius,  510 
Antiochene  "  Acts  of  Martyrdom,"  99,  535 
Autonines,  Emjierors,  176 
Antoninus   Pius,   Hostility  to  the   Christians, 

177,  179 
Apocalypse  of  S.  John,  7S 
Apollo,  Worship  of  (see  Mithras) 
"Apologies"  for  Christianity,  7,  125,126,  172, 

177 
"  Apology  of  Aristides,"  7,  126,  130 
Appian  Way,  The,  264 
Archelaus  and  Manes,  Disputation  between,  393, 

395 
Arianism,  500  ;  and  Monasticisni,  514 
Aristides'  "  Apology  for  Christianity,"  7,  126, 

130 
Aries,  Council  of,  468 
Art  of  the  Catacombs,  282 
Ai-val  Brothers,  Tlie,  160  ;  died  out,  260 
Asclepius,  Dialogue  of,  475,  476 
Asia     Minor     and     Gaul,    Close     relation     of 

Churches  in,  226 
Asia  Minor,  The  Church  in,  77,  81,  235,  244 

,  Literary  pre-eminence  of,  225 

Athanasius  introduces  Monasticisni  into  Rome, 
510 ;    Life    of   S.i  Anthony,   510  ;   and  the 
Council  of  Tyre,  541 
"Augustan  Histoiy,"  The,  240,  380 
Augustine  (of  Hippo)  and  Martyr-Devotion,  491, 
501 

and  Monasticisni,  510,  512,  513 

,  "  City  of  God,"  503 

,  "  Confessions  "  of,  510 

,  "  De  Opere  Mnnaclioruni,"  514 

- — •  "  Rule,"  The,  512 

Augustus,    Emperor,     138  ;    head    of    Roman 
religion,  145  :  Restored  the  Temples,  145 

,  Great  writers  in  time  of,  146 

and  Rome,  Worship  of,  155,  211,  213 

Aureliau,   Emperor,   382  ;   Persecutions  under, 
3S3,  388 


Aurelius  Victor,  Histoiy  by,  474 
Ausonius,  484 

Babylas,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  258 

Babylon,  Symbolic  name  for  Rome,  525 

Bacchus  and  Sergius,  SS.,  414 

Baptism,  Re-baptisni,  Disimte  as  to,  358,  360, 

374,  377 
Barbarian  invasion  and  Christianity,  501  et  scj. 

invasions,  List  of,  502 

Barnabas,  Epistle  of,  7 

Basil,  S.,  Monastic  ''  Rule  "  of,  515 

Basilides,  Gnostic,  548 

Benedict,  S. ,  Monastic  "  Rule  "  of,  515,  517 

Bilt,  S.  (Hippolytus),  302 

Bishops,  Induence  at  Court  of  Constantine,  468 

of  Rome,  List  of,  298,  370,  522,  528 

,  Supremacy  of,  344  ;  Couneil  of,  424 

Britain  and  Caledonia,  Severus'  expedition  to, 

245 ;   and   the    Roman    Empire,   421,   426 ; 

Constantius    Chlorus   dies   at  York,   441 ; 

Constantine  visits,  441 ;  saluted  as  Emperor 

first  in,  441,  454 
Burial  customs  of  the  Romans,  265 
Byzantium  captured  by  JIaximiu  Daia,  465' 

CcHcilian,  Bishop  of  Carthage,  467 

Cttsarea,  Library  of,  542 

Callistus,  S.,  252;  and  Hippolvtus,  294,  303; 
Bishop  of  Rome,  296  ;  Early  life  of,  294 ; 
given  charge  over  the  Cemetery,  296 ; 
CemeteiT  of,  217,  242,  263,  270,  272,  276,  296, 
299,  302,  490,  529 

Capraria,  Isle  of,  Monks  of,  475 

Caracalla,  Emperor,  245 

Carthage,  Church  in,  223,  243,  342-369;  Dissen- 
sions in  the  Church,  313  ;  Councils  of,  351, 
358,  361  ;  Disputes  as  to  apiiointment  of 
Bishop,  467  ;  Rival  Bishops,  467  ;  Descrip- 
tion of,  341 ;  Persecutions  in,  199,  223,  347, 
369 

Catacombs  (see  also  Cemeteries) ;  Origin  of  word, 

263,  267,  268  ;  The,  gatherings  in,  5,  243, 
245,  264,  275,  374,  407  ;  Development  of, 
276  ;  "  earthed  up  "  to  prevent  discovery, 
269,  277,  279,  374,  423,  437  ;  excavations  pro- 
gi-essing  slowly,  277 ;  dangerous  nature 
of  work,  277 ;  The,  become  attached  to 
the  Church,  263,  276 ;  a  misnomer,  269 
extent  of,  2G9  ;  their  construction  described 

264,  270.  273,  2S2  ;  built  under  gardens,  271 
restored  by  Pope  Damasus,  278,  375,  437 
489  ;  used  as  hiding  places  as  well  as  fo 
services,  272,  276 ;  History  of,  272 ;  Rever- 
ence for,  278  ;  Early  guides  or  itineraries  to, 
279,  281 ;  ransacked  by  the  Goths,  279 
spoiled  by  restorations,  280 ;  remains  of 
dead  removed  to  churches,  280  ;  existence 
forgotten,  2S1  ;  Art  of,  282  ;  Art  of,  a  record 
of  early  Christian  beliefs,  283 ;  paintings 
and  inscriptions— the  storv  they  tell,  283  ; 
"Orante"  figure.  The,  284;  "The  Good 
Shepherd,"  285 ;  Symbols  in,  284,  286 ; 
Inscriptions  in,  287,  437 ;  Virgin  Mary, 
Pictures  of,  rare  in,  288 ;  decorations  of 
Bishop  Fabian,  371 ;  Christian  assemblies 
in,  forbidden,  374  ;  an  enduring  memory  of 


EABLY   CHRISTIANITY   AND    PAGANISM. 


persecutions,  437  ;  restored  to  Church  by 
Maxentius,  451  ;  Pilgrimages  to,  490 

Catliedral,  Tlie  first  Christian,  40-J 

"Catholic"  Churcli,  Tlie,  17,  4tiS,  500 

Cecilia,  S.,  "Acts"  of,  217 ;  Martyrdom  of,  21S; 
Basilica  of,  ilS,  lidS,  '272  ;  Long  preserva- 
tion of  body  of,  '219  ;  last  to  be  martyred  in 
Rome  under  Mareus,  221 

Celibacy  (see  Marriage) 

Cemeteries  {nee  also  Catacombs) ;  Christian, 
267,  272,  274,  275  ;  Management  of,  275  ; 
Development  of  in  time  of  persecution,  276  ; 
protected  by  Roman  law,  266 

Cemetery  of  Domitilla,  78,  267,  274 

Ceriuthus,  Gnostic,  548 

Chairs  of  S.  Peter,  527 

Chiistian  and  Jew,  their  positions  contrasted, 
122 

Christian  art,  2S2,  289 

cemeteries,  267,  272,  274 ;  Management  of, 

275 

Church,  The  first,  a  Hebrew  Church,  23,  27; 

a  universal  Churcli,  24 

community  in  Rome,  28,  217,  275 

extremists,  236 

persecutions  (sec  under  Persecutions) 

sacred  Books  destroyed,  242,  417,  423,  435 

writers  of  the  fourth   century,  478,  480  ct 

sen.,  509 

Christianity  a  State  religion,  3 ;  an  illegal  reli- 
gion, 3,  53, 178  ;  a  lawful  religion,  3,  241,  252, 
277,  447,  462,  46:i ;  and  Pagan  writers,  11, 
474,  476  ;  Beginnings  of,  20;  Letters  between 
Emjierc  ir  Trajan  and  Plinv,  108  ;  Spread  of, 
113,  137,  182,  186,  187,  223,  232,  239,  474  ; 
■'  Apologies  "  for,  125, 126, 172, 177  ;  at  close 
of  second  century,  222  ;  Early,  No  ccjnsecu- 
rive  history  of,  230 ;  a  jwwer  in  Roman 
Empire,  231 ;  Effect  of  extension  of  Roman 
citizenship  to  provinces,  248  ;  and  heathen 
philosophy,  333  ;  at  beginning  of  fourth 
century,  420,  429 ;  again  proscribed,  448  ; 
iu  the  East  allowed  by  Maxinun  IJaia,  463  ; 
and  the  Edict  of  Milan,  464 ;  and  society, 
46S,  496,  498,  500,  501,  508  ;  Rapid  progress 
under  Coustantine,  474  ;  disliked  by  Roman 
nobility,  476  ;  and  Tacitus,  476  ;  and  Pliny, 
476  ;  and  the  people,  477,  494  ;  advanced  by 
persecutions,  479,  494  ;  Did  it  intluence  the 
fall  of  the  Emjiire?  496  et  s&i.,  503,  505; 
Society  not  altered  by,  498,  505  ;  and  the 
Barbarian  invasion,  501  et  seq.,  507  ;  v. 
Paganism,  164,  384,  396,  448,  459,  472 

Christians,  The  early,  2 ;  their  oneness  of 
faith,  14,  70,  287  ;  always  loyal  and 
peaceable,  4,  68,  71,  88,  132,  316 ;  in  the 
"Household  (if  Caesar,"  36,  253,  365  ;  a 
proscribed  sect,  53,  178,  241  ;  their  position 
in  Roman  Empire,  53,  112,  122 ;  care  for 
their  dead,  72,  217,  264  ;  Trajan's  Rescript 
respecting,  111 ;  Hadrian's  Rescript  respect- 
ing, 115;  Growing  leniency  towards,  112, 
115  ;  Renewed  hostility  against,  177,  179, 
182,  238  ;  Hatred  of  Pagans  for,  123  ;  Reasons 
for  persecuting,  123,  139,  165  ;  Inlluence  in 
Roman  families,  ISO  ;  in  the  Roman  Army, 
232,  237,  315,  319,  401,  413,  468  ;  a  period  of 
peace,  250  ;  and  jiublic  offices,  316,  319, 
322,  324;  "Lapsed,"  350,  373,  445,  467; 
must  be  self-sacrificing,  355  ;  favoured  by 
Constautins  Cldorus,  421  ;  in  the  West  iu 
peace,  440 ;  Bloodslied  between,  445 ;  in 
the  East  allowed  lieedom  of  worsliip,  466 

Christians  !'.  Stoics,  174 

Chrysostom,  S.,  and  Monasticism,  508 

Chuich,  The,  dui'ing  reigns  of  Vespasian  and 
Titus,  60 ;  Early  doctrines,  69 ;  during 
reign    of  Trajan,   107 ;  ^during    reign  ^of 


Hadrian,  114,  125  ;  under  the  Antonines, 
17ii ;  in  reign  of  Severus,  235;  Peace  of,  278, 
479,  493  ;  svibsecpient  history,  494  et  seq.  ; 
Inner  life  of,  290  ;  Disputes  iu  the  early, 
290,  291,  293,  304,  313,  326,  467,  500,  545  ; 
in  relation  to  society,  291,  29S,  316,  322,  405  ; 
and  (Roman)  State,  233,  324,  405,  468 ; 
Laxity  of  discipline  in,  348,  406  ;  Unity  of, 
357  ;  Restoration  of  i)roperty  to,  379,  388  ; 
under  Claudius  IL,  oS2  ;  at  end  of  third 
century,  393,  406  ;  under  Diocletian,  Quiet- 
ude, 400,  404 ;  Persecutions,  413  et  seq.; 
in  the  West,  440,  451 ;  allowed  to  receive 
bequests,  469 ;  iu  the  fourth  centuiy,  496, 
498,  500;  and  the  Barbarian  invasion,  501, 
507  ;  Christian  leaders  in  the  fifth  century, 
507 ;  Early  heresies  iu,  545 

"  Church  discipline  "  disputes,  290  ;  effect  on 
Christianity,  291 

Churches  in  AsiaMinorand  Gaul,  Close  relations 
between,  226;  The  first  Christian  public, 
407 ;  destroyed,  254,  417  ;  Building  of. 
Imperial  subsidy  for,  461  ;  built  under 
Constantine,  461,  466  ;  spared  by  Bar- 
barians, 503 

Cicero  and  Jewish  influence  in  Rome,  29 

"  City  of  God,"  Augustine's,  503 

Claudius  Apollinaiis,  Bishop  of  Hierapolis, 
writer,  226 

Claudius  II.,  Emperor,  382 

Clement,  Bishop  of  Rome,  7,  50,  62,  67,  524 ; 
Letter  (Epistle)  to  the  Corinthians,  63,  65, 
70 ;  lost  page  found,  70  ;  Influence  of,  64  ; 
Prayer  for  rulers  and  governors,  5,  68 ; 
Oratory  or  "Memoria,"  73 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  S,  10,  332,  333,  525 

"Clementines,  T\\(:,"  64,  73 

Clergy,  iMarriage  of,  305  ct  seq. 

Cletus,  Bisliop  (>f  Rome  (see  Anencletus) 

"Ccemeterium  ad  Catacumbas,"  269j 

Coenobites,  509 

Comniodus,  Emperor,  222 ;  Death  of,  233 

Condat  Monastery,  Jura,  514 

"  Confessions  of  Augustine,"  510 

"  Confessors  "  and  tlie  Lapsi,  352 

Constance,  Council  of,  361 

"Constantine,  Life  of,'"  by  Busebius,  456,  457 

Constantine  the  Great,  Emperor,  Edict  of 
Milan  (see  Milan),  1,  3,  428,  446 ;  Rise 
of,  411,  439,  440,  453,  459  :  proclaimed 
Emperor  in  Britain,  441,  454 ;  Edict  iu 
favour  of  Christians,  441 ;  made  "Augustus," 
443 ;  and  Maxentius,  Civil  war  between, 
452 ;  enters  Rome  as  conqueror,  453 ; 
Conversion  of,  453,  454 ;  invokes  Divine 
assistance,  455 ;  Dream  and  vision  of,  455  ; 
and  tlie  "Sign  of  the  Cross,"  455,  457; 
Public  confession  of  Christianity  by,  457 
reasons  for  becoming  Christian,  460  ; 
Building  of  Churches,  461,  466;  Arcli  of 
Triumpli  in  Rume,  462  ;  Inftueuce  of  bisliops 
at  Court  of,  468 ;  New  laws  by,  469 ; 
abolishes  crucifixion,  469 ;  Paganism  still 
State  religion,  470  ;  head  of  Paganism  and 
Christianity,  462,  470 ;  Civil  wars  with 
Licinius,  471  ;  sole  Emperor,  472  ;  Rapid 
progress  of  Christianity,  474  ;  and  the  body 
of  S.  Peter,  529 

Constantius  Chlorus,  Emjieror  of  the  West,  411, 
422,  459  ;  ta\-ours  Christians,  421 ;  death  at 
York,  441 

Constantinople,  O'^cumenical  Council  of,  340 

Corinthians,  Clement's  Epistle  to,  63,  65,  70 

Cornelius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  372  ;  Pilgrimages  to 
tomb  of,  372 

Council  imder  Agriiiiiiiius,  359 

■ of  Aries,  468 

of  Bishops,  424j 


INDEX. 


557 


Council  of  Constance,  361 

of  Elvira  (sec  Elvira) 

of  Icoiiluni,  359 

the  Luterau,  467 

of  Nice,  307 

of  Svniiaila,  359 

of  Trent,  30tJ 

of  Tyro,  541 

"  Council  of  Martyi-s,"  530 

Councils  of  Carthage,  351,  358,  361 

Creed,  Early  Christian,  129,  229,  310,  811 

Cross,  The  Sign  of  the,  and  Constantine,  455 

Crucifixion  abolished,  4(50 

Cyprian,    S.,   of  Carthage,   8,   343 ;  History  ot, 

345-3ti9  ;    Account   of  Trial    of,   363,   368 ; 

banished  to  Curubis,  366  ;  martyrdom,  309 

Damasus,  Pope,  479,  489 ;  restores  Catacombs, 
278,  375,  437,  489 

"  De  Mortibus  rerseeutornm,"  Lactautius',  435, 
439,  543,  552 

Dead,  Christian  burial  of  the,  207 

— ,  Prayers  for  the,  203 

,  The,  worshipped  by  Romans,  153 

Decius,  Emperor  of  Rome,  346, 

,  Persecutions  undsr,  346 

Decurions,  The,  470 

Diocletian,  Emperor,  396;  Persecutions  under, 
325,  413,  416,  418,  420,  427,  552  ;  Persecu- 
tions nnder,  authorities,  433  ;  Results  of, 
492,  495 ;  Edicts  against  Christians,  413, 
417,  420,  424,  426  ;  Abdication,  439 

"Diognetus,  Letter  to,"  7,  131 

Dionysius,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  356,  359 

,  Bishop  of  Corinth,  writer,  9,  524 

"  Docefism,"  102 

Domitiau,  Persecution  under,  60,  62 

Domitilla,  Cemetery  of,  73,  267,  274 

Donatist  Schism,  424,  468 


Easter,  Difference  of  opinion  as  to  correct  day 

for  celebrating,  85 
Bbionites,  551 
Edict  of  Milan,  by  Constantine  (see  Milan) 

by  Constantine  in  favour  of  Christians,  441 

of  Toleration,  Galerius',  447 

Egypt  and  Mmiasticisni,  509 

Elagabalus,  Emperor,  favourable  to  Christians, 

250 
Elvira,  Council  of,  305,  405 
Emerentiaua,  S.,  "Acts"  of,  436 

,  Tomb  of,  272 

Emperors  of  Rome,  deified,  123,  152,  155,  211, 
213,  316,  347 ;  why  they  were  chosen,  246 ; 
List  of,  521 
Ephesus  the  centre  of  Christianity,  77 
Ephrem  of  Edessa,  writer,  510 
J2pictetus,  Teaching  of,  171 
Episcopacy,  The  early,  16,  103 

,  Ecclesiastics  relieved  from  taking  public 

ofaces,  469 
"  Epistles"  from  early  Christians,  7 
Eusebian  Catalogue,  The,  62 
Eusebius,  Bishop  of  C»sarea,  writer,  Extracts 
from,  66,  216,   240,  253,  370,  388,  416,  425, 
427,  448,  449,   455,   456,  457,  525,  528,  553  ; 
"Ecclesiastical   History,"   433;    "Martyrs 
of  Palestine,"  433  ;  an  eye-witness  of  per- 
secutions, 433  ;  History  of,  541  ;  Works  of, 
541,  542 

,  Pope,  445,  451 

Eutropius,  History  bv,  474 
Eutychius,  S.,  Tomb  of,  490 
Excommunication,  304,  352,  373,  468 
"  Exhortation,  The,'\by  Origen,  254 


Fabian,  Bishop  of  Rome,  371 ;  decorates  Cata- 
combs, 371 ;  martyrdom,  371 
Fasting,  130,  321  ^        ,  ,,      c 

Felicitas,  S.  (Rome),  "Acts  of  P.  and  her  Sons, 
ISS  1H2  ;  Trial  of,  192  ;  Martyrdom  of,  V?i> 
Felicitas,  S.  (Carthage),  205-208,  540 
Felix,  S.,  of  Nola,  478  ;  Paulinus  of  Nola,  4io  , 

Pilgrimages  to  shrine  of,  486 
Filocalus,  artist  of  the  Catacombs,  2,8,  43i,  490 
Firmilian,  Bishop  of  Cffisarea,  359 
Frouto's  letters  to  Marcus  Aurehus,  183 

Galerius,  Persecutions  under,  412,  416,  422,  428, 
552  •  hatred  of  Christians,  419  ;  ambition, 
440 ;  jealous  of  Constantine,  441 ;  luyasiou 
of  Italy  defeated,  443;  issues  Edict  ot 
Toleration,  447;  asks  for  prayers  ot 
Christians,  447  ;  Death  of,  448 
Gallienus,  Emperor,  restores  Chui-ch  propertj, 

379,  388  ,       ^_ 

Gallus,  Emperor,  Persecutions  under,  35b 
Gaul  and  Asia  Minor,  Close  relation  of  Churches 
in,  226 

,  Persecutions  in,  404 

— -,  The  Church  in,  210 

Genesius,  S.,  "  Passion  "  of,  400 

Gnostic  Heretics,  10,  86,  307,  331,  54y,  548 

■ writings,  547 

"  Good  Shepherd"  figure.  The,  285 

Gordian,  Pro-Consul,  Emperor,  255  ;  his  palace, 

255 
"  Graffiti,"  302  ,       „ 

Greek,    the    official    language    of    the    Roman 
Chiuch,  372,  374 

Hadrian,  Emperor,  Riescript  respecting  Chris- 
tians, 115;  Career  of,  116;  desecrates  holy 
places,  132;  persecution  of  the  Christians, 
133 
Hadrianople,  Battle  of,  472 
Hebrew  Church,  The  first  Church  a,  23,  2i 
Helena,  S.,  411  ,  „„,  nnn 

"  Heresies,  The  Refutation  of  all,"  202,  294,  299, 
328 

in  the  earlv  Church,  545 

Heretical  SchoGls,  Early,  10,  326,  894 
Heretics,  Jiidaising  and  Gnostic,  10,  86 

and  S.  Martin,  489  ^    ^^,, 

Hippolytus  of  Rome,  8,  11,  254,  291,  292,  29-^, 
310;  History  of,  297;  and  Callistus,  294 
303  ;  Statue  of,  299  ;  Shrine,  300  ;  Removal 
of  remains,  301 ;  Influence  of,  300  ;  contem- 
porary with  TertuUian,  314 
Holy  oils,  527 
Horace,  147 

Iconium,  Council  of,  359 

Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  Hi.story  of,   94  ; 

Letters  by,  7,  94,  98.  101,  524,  531 ;  Letters 

impugned'  by  Presbvtcrian  critics,  104;   a 

pupil"  of  the   Apostles,   95  ;    Nurono,   95  ; 

•'  Theoidiorus,"  96;  Legends  concerning,  96  ; 

Martyrdom,   96 ;    Seven    Epistles  of,  531 ; 

their  authenticity,  531  et  seq.;  "Acts"  ot, 

535 
Illiberis,  Council  ot  (see  Elvira) 
Ireuaus    of  Lyons,  Extracts  from,  7,  10,  212, 

227,  228,  525,  527  ;  "  Memories"  by,  81,227; 

instructed  by  Polycarp,  82 
Italy,  Invasion  of,  by  Galerius,  defeated,  443 
and  North  African  Empire  conquered  by 

Constantine,  453 
Itineraries  (guides)  to  Catacombs,  279,  281 

Januarius,  S.,  194-198 

Jerome,  wTiter,  491,  500,  503,  512,  513  ;  "  Contra 
Vigilantium,"  491 


558 


EARLY   CHBISTUNITY   AND    PAGANISM. 


Jcnisalein  The  Christian  Cliurch  in,  121 ;  Final 

flestruction  of,  1'21 
Jew  and  Christian,  their  positions  (.'ontrasted, 

122 
Jewish-Christians,  121,  540 
Jews,    Final    expatriation    of.    120;     struggles 

against  the  Romans,  120 
John,  S.  (see  S.  John) 
Juriaising  Heretics,  10,  549 
Judaism.  Ruin  of,  5.j0 
Julius  Ciiesar  deified,  154 
"Julius,  S.,  Acts  of,"  414 
Justin  Martyr,  7,  550  ;  "Apologies  of,"  172,  177 

Lactmitius,  writer,  430,  434,  443,  455,  525,  552  ; 
"  The  Deaths  of  the  PerseeTitors,"  435,  439, 
543,  552;  "  Divina?  Institutiones,"  435; 
History  of,  543  ;  Works  of,  543,  544 

"  Lapsed  "  Christians,  Restoration  of,  349  ct 
seti.,  373,  445,  467 

Latei-an  Church  and  Palace,  462  ;  Council,  The, 
407 

Latin  Christianity  and  Versions  of  Scripture, 
342,  344 

Laurence,  S.,  Basilica  of,  290;  martyrdom,  37S 

Lerins  monastery,  514 

"Libelliitics,"  340 

"Liber  Pontificalis,"  The,  62,  220,  253,  444,  528 

"  Liberian  Catalogue,"  Tlie,  253 

Liciiiius,  War  with  Maximin  Daia,  405  ;  Em- 
peror of  the  East,  460 ;  allows  Christian 
worship,  466  ;  Civil  wars  with  Constantine, 
471  ;  unfavourable  to  Christianity,  471  ; 
Persecutions  under,  471 ;  Death  of,  472 

Linus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  62 

Literature,  Early  Christian,  7,  47S,  480,  500,  531, 
541 

Lncina,  S.,  Cemetery  of,  268,  274,  275 

Lyons,  211  ;  Persecutions  at,  212 

"  Lyons  and  Vienne,  Martyrs  of,"  ISS,  210 

Macrobius,  Writings  of,  474 

JIanes,  disputation  with  Archelaus,  303,  305 

Waniehseism,  394,  545 

"  JMarcianus  and  Xicander,  SS.,  Acts  of,"  414 

Marcionite  School,  10 

Marcus  Aurelins  Antoninus'  "  Meditations," 
141,  167,  183  ;  Hostility  to  the  Christians, 
179,  184;  Life-sketch  of,  183  ;  Persecutions 
under,  188,  100 

IMark,  S.  (see  S.  Mark) 

Marriage,  Second,  Opinions  respecting,  305 ; 
of  clergy.  Opinions  respecting,  806 ;  be- 
tween freemen  and  slaves,  308  ;  Laws  re- 
specting, 469 

Martin,  S.,  Bishop  of  Tours,  History  of,  488; 
influence  in  Gallic  provinces,  489,  512;  and 
witli  lieretics,  480 

Martyrdom  sought  for,  56,  97,  105,  320,  321 ;  of 
SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  57  ;  Tvpical  scenes  of, 
100 ;  Typical  trial  before,  191  ;  Typical 
prison  life  before,  198  (see  also  Persecutions) 

Martyr  shrines.  Pilgrimages  to,  478  et  seq. 

Martyr  "  Worship,"  482,  486,  491;  and  Augus- 
tine, 401,  501 ;  Vigilantius'  book  against, 
401 ;  Reasons  for,  498 ;  Effects  on  the 
Churcli(;^5!J 

Martyrs'  bimaT  places  kept  secret,  192,  196  ; 
their  bodies  delivered  to  friends,  271 ; 
Known  burial  places  of  some,  271  ;  Removal 
of  remains  from  Catacombs,  219  ;  at  Rome, 
221 ;  their  lieroic  deaths  spread  Christianity, 
■ —  479,  494;  Prayers  to,  482,  484,  487,  488; 
Intercession  by,  483,  484,  487,  488,  493 ; 
.Jlitacles  by,  487  ;  Extreme  reverence  for, 

JIartyrs,  Early  "Acts"  or  Reports  of  (see 
"  Acts  of  tlie  Martyrs  ") 


"  Martyr's  Manual,"'  106 
"  Martyrs  of  Lyons  and  Vienne,"  ISS,  210 
"Martyrs  of  Palestine,"  The,  541,  554 
Maurice,  S.,  402 

Maxentius,  Co-Emperor  with  Maximian  Hereu- 
lius,   443  ;    restores  Church's  possessions, 

451  ;  and  Constantine,  Civil  war  between, 

452  ;  Death  of,  453 

Maximian  Herculius,  Emperor  of  tlie  West,  401 ; 
Persecutions  under,  401,  423 ;  Abdication 
of,  440  :  Restoration  of,  443  ;  Death  of,  446 

Maximin  Daia,  Emperor  of  the  East,  440 ; 
Fierce  persecuti<ins  under,  442,  552;  Re- 
newed jiersecutions  under,  448,  450 ; 
Churches  and  cemeteries  closed,  449  ;  Meet- 
ings forbidden,  449;  "Epistle"  in  favour 
of  Paganism,  449 ;  Revival  of  Paganism, 
450 ;  allows  Christianity,  4(53 ;  War  witli 
Licinius,  465  ;  Defeat  and  deatli  of,  465 

Maximinus,  Persecutions  under,  253 

Jlelito,  Bishop  of  Sardis,  writer,  235 

"Memoria,"  or  Oratory  of  Bishop  Clement,  73 

"Memoria"  (Chapels)  of  Martyrs,  73,  135 

Menauder,  Gnostic,  548 

Milan,  Edict  of,  by  Constantine,  446,  465,  463, 
466  ;  becomes  Imperial  law,  466 ;  Effects 
of,  406 ;  Provisions  of,  463 ;  History  of  the 
Church  after,  494  et  seq. 

Miltiades,  Pope,  451;  recognised  as  head  of 
Roman  Church  by  Government,  451  | 

Milvian  Bridge,  Battle  of,  453 

Miracles  by  martyrs,  487 

Mithras,  Worship  of,  386,  416,  497 

Monasteries,  schools  for  learning,  514,  516,  517  ; 
Some  famous,  514  ;  the  seats  of  agriculture, 
literature  and  art,  516,  517 

Jlonastery,  The  first,  509 

Monasticism,  308,  475,  486;  Developm  ent  f, 
50S ;  supported  bv  early  Christian  writers, 
500  ;  Augustine  "  Rule,"  The,  612  ;  Evils  of, 
513  ;  "  Rules  "  made  by  Basil  and  by  Bene- 
dict. 515  ;  its  ser\'ices  to  society,  518 

Monk,  The  life  and  work  of  a,  516 

Montanism,  244,  3017,  326-331,  539 

Muratorian  Canon,  The,  78,  79 

Nazarenes,  551 

Nero,  40 ;  his  mother's  influence,  40 ;  his 
cliaracter,  41  ;  and  the  lire  of  Rome,  42 ; 
persecution  of  the  Christians,  28,  44,  49, 
52  ;  "  martyr  "  games,  51 

New  Testament  permeated  with  the  Super- 
natural, 1;  Earliest  "versions"  of,  IS; 
accepted  as  Holy  Scripture  by  early  Chris- 
tians, 228,  320  ;  Latin  version  of,  342 

"Nicanderand  aicMiauus,  SS.,  Acts  of,"  414 

Nice,  Council  of,  307 

Nicene  Creed,  The,  220 

NoAatian  of  Rome,  373  ;  excommunicated,  373 

Novatianists,  424 

Nuns,  The  first,  509 

Ecumenical  Council  of  Constantinople,  340 
"On  the  Government  of  God,"  Salvian's,  505 
"  Orante"  figure.  The,  284 
Origen  of  Alexandria,  8,  10,  251,  264,  292,  824  ; 

History   of,   334-340 ;    Revision   of   Greek 

Septua'gint,  330  ;  Works  by,  337 
Orosius,  writer,  250  ;  "  Universal  History,"  504 
Ostrian  Cemetery,  The,  272,  275,  527  ;  and  S. 

Peter,  275 
Ovid,  147 

Pachomius  founds  first  monastery,  509 
Pagan  writers  and  Christianity,  11,  474 

Monotheism,  408 

Paganism,  Revival  of,  138,  145,  151 ;  History  of, 
'l40;    Cicei-o    and,    140;    Decline    of,    144; 


INDEX. 


559 


Emperors  tlie  heads  of,  145  ;  Sacerdotal 
Corporations,  KiO ;  Arval  Brothers,  Tlie. 
100,  200  ;  Admission  of  foreign  deities,  102, 
497  ;  and  the  Philosophers,  100  ;  .Supersti- 
tions of,  325  ;  The  last  etlort  of,  382,  3Si», 
429  ;  influenced  by  Cliristianity,  408 ;  Neo- 
Paganism,  409  ;  Maxiuiiu  Daia's  "  Epistle  " 
in  favour  of,  449  ;  Tablet  at  Tj-re  in  favour 
of  449  ;  stilUthe  State  Religion  under  Cou- 
stantine,  470  :  to  Christianity — results  of 
change,  473  ;  dies  slowly,  476 

Paganism  v.  Christianity,  164,  384,  396,  448  ; 
Christianity  victor,  459,  472 

Pamphilus,  expositor  of  Scripture,  434 

Pant;enus  of  Alexandria,  332 

"  Papal  Crypt,"  219,  221,  274,  270,  302,  529 

"  Passions  "  of  Martyrs  {see  "  Acts  ") 

Patripassianism,  15,   70,  309,313 

Patron  Saints,  483 

Paul,  S.  {see  S.  Paul) 

Paulinus,  Bishop  of  Nola,  478,  501,  502  ;  History 
iif,  484  ;  taught  by  the  poet  Ausonius,  484  ; 
and  S.  Felix.  485 

Peace  of  the  Church,  The,  493 ;  subsequent 
histoiy,  494  et  svq. 

Penance  among  early  Christians,  258,  304,  352 
Dissensions  respecting,  445 

Pentecost,  23 

"  Peri-Stephanou  "  of  Prudentius,tThe,  481-483; 

Pei-petna,  S.,  in  prison,  199  ;  Visions  of,  200, 
202,  203,  537  ;  Martyrdom  of,  207 ;  "  Passion 
(or  Acts)  of,"  198,  206;  "Acts  "of,  Notes 
on,  536  et  seq. 

Persecutions  (see  also  Martyrdom)  ;  Epistles  by 
SS.  Peter  and  John  during,  57 ;  Reasons 
for,  123,  139,  165  ;  Summary  of  periods  of, 
322 ;  Allard's  History  of,  404 ;  Tortures 
just  short  of  death,  431  ;  alien  to  Roman 
]iolicy,  473 ;  advaneed  Christianity,  479, 
494  ;  Nature  of,  552  et  seq. ;  under  Nero,  28, 
49  ;  EHects  of,  52 ;  under  Titus,  Vespasian, 
and  Dondtian,  60,  02 ;  Trajan,  liO,  533 ; 
Pliny,  110  ;  Hadrian,  133  ;  the  Antonines, 
181,  188,  190 ;  Commodus,  223  ;  Severus 
236,  238,  240  ;  Caracalla  247  ;  ceased 
for  a  time,  249 ;  under  Maximinus,  253  ; 
Christians  free  from,  under  Philip,  259  ; 
Diocletian  and  Galerius,  325,  413,  416, 
418,  420,  427,  428,  552 ;  authorities,  433 ; 
Results  of,  492,  495  ;  Deeius,  346 ;  Gallus, 
356  ;  Valerian,  302,  369,  379 ;  Aurelian,  383, 
388  ;  Maximian,  Emperor  of  the  West,  401, 
423 ;  Maximin  Daia,  442 ;  renewed,  448, 
450 ;  Licinius,  471  ;  in  the  East,  pfeace  in 
the  West,  430  ;  in  the  East  under  Maxindn 
Daia,  450;. ceased  in  the  West,  441,  444; 
relentlessly  carried  on  in  the  East,  442,  444 ; 
in  Alexandria,  477 ;  Carthage.  199,  223,  347, 
309  ;  Gaul,  404  ;  Rome,  243,  370  et  seq.,  427  ; 
Smyrna,  89 

Peschitta-Syriac,  28 

Peter,  S.  (sec  S.  Peter) 

Philip,  first  Christian  Emperor,  257,  336 ; 
refused  adnnssion  to  Church  by  Bishop 
Babylas,  of  Antioch,  258;  Cliiistians  free 
from  persecution,  259;  ends  Arval  Brother- 
hood, 200 

Philippians,  Polycarp's  Epistle  to,  81,  87 

Philosophers,  The,  and  Paganism,  100 

"  Philosophumena,"  292 

Philosophy  and  Christianity,  333 

Pilgrimages,  Early,  135,  190,  278,  281,  302,  372, 
403,  478  et  seq.,  480 

Pionius  of  Smyrna,  "Acts"  of,  311 

Plagues,  353 

Pliny  and  Christianity,  61,  109,  110,  476 

Pliny  the  Younger,  Writings  of,  11 

Polycarp,  Bisl>op   of  Smyrna,  7,  81 ;  and  Cle- 


ment's Epistle,  65  ;  Ireii:i-ns's  "  Jleniories," 
81;  "Epistle  to  the  Philippians,"  81,  87; 
and  Ignatius,  Bishop  of  Antiocli,  81,  98  ; 
"Father  of  the  Christians,"   84;  and  the 
celebration  of  Easter,  85  ;  and  heretics,  86  ; 
as  a  writer,  87  ;  Martyrdom  of,  89 
Polycrates,  Bishop  of  Ephesns,  writer,  226 
Pontianus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  martyr,  254,  299 
Pontifex  Maximus,  The  title,  402,  405,  470 
Porphyry,  philosopher,  and  Christianity,  409 
Pothinus,  Bishop  of  Lyons,  martyr,  212 
Pnetextatus,    Cemetery   of,   197,   218,  268,  272, 

275,  378 
Prayers  for  the  dead,  203 

to  martyrs,  482,  484,  487,  488 

Priscilla,  S.,  Cemetery  of,  207,  275 
Prudentius,  Spanish  poet,  430.  438,   478  ;  His- 
tory of,  480  ;  Works  by,  481,  501  ;  "  Book 
of  the  (Martyrs')  Crowns,"    or   "  Peri-Ste- 
phaonn,"  481-483 

Quadratus'  "  Apology  for  Christianity,"  125 
Quarto  Deciman  controversy,  The,  85 

Re-baptism,  Dispute  as  to,  358,  360,  374,  377 

"  Refutation  of  all  Heresies,  The,"  292,  294,  299, 
328 

Roman  "  Acts  "  of  Martyrs,  436,  535 

Roman  Army,  Christians  in,  232,  237,  315,  319, 
401,  413,  40S 

burial  customs,  265,  260 

Christian  community,  28,  217,  275 

"  Columliarium,"  265 

death  guilds,  205 

Empire,  Power  of  the  Church  in,  231 ;  new 

laws,  248,  469;  "Unity"  of,  397,  412; 
Changes  in  government,  398,  411 ;  The  four 
capital  cities  of,  412  ;  at  beginning  of  foiuth 
century,  443,  444 ;  civil  war,  452,  405  ; 
uidted  under  one  sovereign,  472,  474  ;  fall 
of.  Reasons  for,  496  ;  and  the  Barbarian 
invasion,  501 

religious  worship  (see  Paganism) 

society  and  Christianity,  498,  505 

"  triumphs,"  The  last,  420 

writers,  146 

Romans,  Religious  devotion  of,  143  ;  decline  of, 
144 

Rome  and  Augustus,  Worship  of,  155,  211,  218 

,  Bishops  of.  List,  298,  370  et  seq.,  522,  528 

,  Bishop  of,  his  palace,  406 

Rome,  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  in,  34,  76,  524; 
Pilgrimages  to,  479 ;  Emperor  the  head 
of  religion,  145;  Emperors  of,  deiti  ed, 
123,  152,  211,  213,  816,  347;  why  they  were 
chosen.  246  ;  in  thiixl  century,  380  et 
seq. ;  Jewish  colony  in,  29 ;  Cicero  and 
Jewish  influence  in,  29,  81  ;  The  Ghetto  or 
Jewish  quarter,  32 ;  Fire  of,  42  ;  Christians 
.accused,  44,  47 ;  State  and  religious  offices 
united,  138,  142  ;  Peasants  the  backbone  of 
the  State,  148  ;  in  the  latter  years  of  Marcus, 
216  ;  Power  of  the  Church  in,  231 ;  History 
of,  in  third  century,  233 ;  Building  work  by 
Severus  in,  244 ;  "Extension  of  citizenship 
to  provinces,  its  efl'ect  on  Christianity,  248  ; 
Power  of  the  army,  253,  257;  no  longer  capital 
of  the  Empire,  420  ;  taken  by  Constantine, 
458  ;  Fall  of,  503  ;  and  Christian  writers, 
503  et  seq.;  Christian  churches  spared  by 
Alaric,  503 

Rome,  The  Church  in,  35  ;  "The  Household  of, 
Caesar,"  30,  253,  305  ;  Hostility  of  the  Jews 
39;  after  Nero,  01,  07;  fixed  Liturgi,',  72  ; 
growth  in  authority,  72,  70 ;  the  centre  of 
Christianity,  70,  312,  376,  877 ;  ceased  to  be 
so  for  a  time,  77;  in  second  century,  275; 


560 


EARLY    CHRISTIANITY  AND    PAGANISM. 


290 ;  under  Scvevus,  291 ;  Dissensions  in, 
293,  304,  444;  and  re-baptism,  360,  374,377; 
in  tliird  century,  370  ;  Staff  of,  370 ;  posses- 
sions restored  by  Maxentius,  451  ;  Churches 
built  in,  under  Constantine,  466  ;  founded 
by  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  5'27  ;  Martyrs  at, 
221  ;  Monastieisui  introduced  by  Atliana- 
sius,  510  ;  Monasticism,  its  rapid  spread  in, 
512;  Persecutions  in,  243,  253,  370  et  seq., 
427 
Rutilius  Namatianns,  Writings  of,  475 

Sabbath,  Christian,  to  be  hept  throughout  the 
Empire,  469 

Sabbazius  and  Tropliimus,  SS.,  "Acts"  of,  393 

Sacerdotal  Corjiorations,  160 

S.  Agnes  Church,  Rome,  466 

S.  Jolm,  77 ;  at  Ephesus,  77 ;  Death  of,  7S  ;  his 
Gospel,  7S  ;  Personal  inemories  of,  79 

S.  Ijaurence's  Church,  Rome,  406 

S.  Mark  and  Alexandria,  331 

S.  Paul,  25  ;  missionary  travels,  26 ;  in  Rome, 
34,  76  ;  Martyrdom  of,  67,  524 ;  Biu-ial 
place,  272  ;  Basilica  and  Ciypt  of,  274 

S.  Paul's  Cliurch,  Rome,  466 

S.  Peter  in  Rome,  34,  76,  524  et  seq. ;  authorita- 
tive testimony  of,  visits  to  and  martyrdom 
at,  624 ;  Martyrdom  o',  57,  524 ;  Burial 
place,  271 ,  274 ;  Basilica  of,  274  ;  and  the 
Ostrian  Cemeteiy,  276  ;  Chairs  of  at  Rome, 
527;  Episcoiiacy  of  Rome,  52S  ;  Constan- 
tine and  the  body  of,  629  ;  Sarcophagus  of 
at  Rome,  629 

S.  Peter's  Clnirch,  Rome,  406 

S.  Stephen,  Relics  of,  491 

Saints,  Patron,  483 

,    Prayers    and    Intercessions    {see    under 

Martyrs) 

Salarian  Way,  Tlie,  276,  281 

Salvian,  writer,  "On  the  Government  of  God," 
505  ;  History  of,  605,  614 

Satuminus,  Gnostic,  648 

Savinus,  S.,  "  Acts  "  of,  427 

Schools  of  Christian  opinions,  310 

Scillitau  Martyrs,  "  Acts  "  of.  224 

Sebastian,  S.,  Basilica  of,  268;  Cemetery  of, 
268,  490;  "Acts"  of,  393 

Seneca  and  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  109 ;  Teaching 
of,  16i< 

"Septem  biothanati,"  The,  135 

Septuagint,  Greek,  Revision  of  by  Origen,  336 

Sergius  and  Bacchus,  SS. ,  414 

Severns,  Emperor  of  tlie  West.  234,  440  ; 
friendly  to  Christians  at  first,  236  ;  Persecu- 
tions luider,  236  ;  caused  partly  by  Chris- 
tians themselves,  236  ;  builds  nmch  in 
Rome,  243 ;  expedition  to  Britain  and 
Caledonia,  246 

"  Shepiierd  of  Hernias,"  The,  7,  538 

Sibylline  Books,  The,  3S5 

Silvester,  Poiie,  468 

Simeon  Stylites,  513 

Simon  Magus,  Gnostic,  548 

Sixtus  II.,  Bisliop  of  Rome,  martyrdom,  377 

Slaves,  Manumission  of,  469 

Smyrna,  Persecutions  in,  89 

Spanish  Christian  writers  (see  Prudentius  and 
Orosius) 

Stephen,  Bishop  of  Rome,  360,  376;  dispute 
with  S.  Cyprian,  376 

State,  The,  and  the  Cluirch,  233,  324,  405,  468 


Stoic  Philosophers,  The,  106,  173 

Stoics  V.  Christians,  174 

Suetonius,  Writings  of,  11 

Sulpicius  Severns,  writer,  60,  240,  488,  512 

Synnnachus,  Letters  of,  474,  499 

Syniphorosa,  S.,  133 

Synnada,  Council  of,  359 

Tacitus,  Writings  of,  11,  49 ;  and  Christianity 
476  ■^' 

"  Teaching  of  the  Apostles,"  The.  7 

TertulUan  of  Carthage,  writer,  3,  8,  10,  206,  209, 
231,  237,  243,  805,  313,  626  ;  "  Aiiology," 
303,  319  ;  and  dissensions  in  African  Church, 
313,  318  ;  Life  of,  314  ;  contemporary  with 
Hippolytus,  314;  views  as  to  Christians' 
pursuits  and  actions,  319 

"Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  The," 
661 

Thebaid,  Monks  of  the,  509 

"Theljan  Legi(jn,  The,"  Massacre  of,  401 

Tibnrtine  Way,  The,  136,  299 

Titus,  Persecutions  under,  60 

Telesphonis,  S.,  Bishop  of  Rome,  133 

Toleration,  Galerius'  Edict  of,  447 

Trajan,  Persecutions  under,  110,  533 

"  Travel  Document  of  S.  Paul,"  The,  27 

Trent,  Council  of,  306 

Trials,  Proces  vcrbuvx  of,  188,  191,  192,  195,i317, 
363,  ■SiiS 

Trinity,  The  Doctrine  of,  15,  310-3 

Trophimus  and  Sabbazius,  SS.,  "Acts"  of,;393 

Tyre,  Public  Tablet  in  favour  of  Paganism,l449; 
Basilica  (Cliurch)  of,  466  ;  Council  of,  541 

Unity  of  the  early  Church,  14,  70 
"  Universal  History,"  Orosius',  604 
Urban,  Two  Bishops  of  that  name,  219 

Valentinian  School,  10 

Valentinus,  Gnostic,  546,  548 

Valerian,  Emperor  of  Rome,  357 ;  favourable  at 

first  to  Christians,  357 ;  Persecutions  under, 

362,  369,  379 
Vatican  Cemetery,  274,  276 

Crypt  (see  Papal  Crypt)  ' 

Gardens  "  Martyr  Games,"  49,  51 

Vesiiasian,  Persecutions  under,  61 

Via  Triumphalis,  462 

Victor,  S.,  Mona.stery,  Mai-seilles,  514 

"  Vienne  and  Lyons,  Martyrs  of,"  1»8,  210 

Vigilantius,  writer,  491,  601 

Vincent  of  Lerins,  340,  359,  377,  514;    "Com- 

monitorium,"  514 
Virgil.   147 ;    and    S.    Paul,  Legend    of,    149 ; 

influence  of  his  writings,  149 
Virgin  (Mary,  Pictures   of,  rare  in  Catacombs, 

288 
Visions  of  Martyrs  before  their  death,  201,  204 
Vossian  Recension  of  Ignatius'  Epistles,  7,1532, 

534 

Writers,  Early  Christian,  7,  10,  12,  60 

,  Great  Roman,  146 

of  the  second  century  a.d.,  9 

York,  Constantius  Chlorus  dies  at,  441 

Zephyi-inus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  242,  296,  298,  303 
Zosinius,  Pagan  writer,  454 


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